Israel Report: New demand by Netanyahu threatens hostage deal
According to a media report, a new demand by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could derail diplomatic efforts to reach a hostage agreement with the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza war. In consultations with the Israeli negotiators, the head of government had stipulated as a further condition for the conclusion of an agreement that it must contain regulations that prevent the return of armed fighters from the south to the north of the Gaza Strip.
The well-informed journalist Barak Ravid wrote this in the news portal "walla.co.il", citing an unnamed Israeli participant in the ongoing indirect negotiations, in which Egypt, Qatar and the USA are mediating. According to the source, several members of the negotiating team had expressed reservations about this new demand. It was not feasible. It was not clear why Netanyahu had raised it.
The Prime Minister's Office rejected the claim in "walla.co.il" that Netanyahu had raised a new demand as "fundamentally false" and "baseless". Critics accuse the Prime Minister of not being interested in a negotiated solution. Netanyahu governs in a coalition with ultra-religious and far-right parties, which he has to take into consideration.
The slow-moving talks, mostly in Cairo or Doha, are about exchanging the remaining Israeli hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and about ways to achieve a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza war.
Cautious optimism had recently emerged in negotiating circles because Hamas appeared to have relaxed some of its rigid positions. The reports of Netanyahu's presumed new demands put the relatives of the hostages in a state of alarm. "We are appalled and shocked by this irresponsible behavior," the hostage families' forum said. "It could lead to a missed opportunity that may never return."
The war was triggered by the unprecedented massacre carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other extremist Palestinian organizations in southern Israel on 7 October. The aggressors killed more than 1,200 people and abducted another 250 as hostages in the Gaza Strip.
SDA
