12/21/2024–|Last updated: 12/21/202407:56 PM (Mecca time)
The Association of Families of Israeli Prisoners in Gaza called for demonstrations in Tel Aviv and several Israeli cities on Saturday evening to demand a deal that returns all prisoners detained in the Strip.
The families of the Israeli prisoners said, “The leadership must reach an agreement now that guarantees the release of all the kidnapped,” and that “ending the war is not a failure and is not a price, and most importantly, the return of our children.”
These calls coincide with increasing indications that an agreement between the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas and Israel is near, leading to a prisoner exchange deal.
The families of Israeli prisoners continue to escalate their movement demanding an end to the war and the return of their children, and they say that the military pressure exerted by the government “led to the death of the prisoners and did not achieve any achievement” in this regard.
In turn, the leader of the opposition in Israel, Yair Lapid, called on the Israelis to demonstrate in Tel Aviv this evening in order to what he called “returning the state to its right path.”
Israeli media reported yesterday that the Hamas movement is demanding the release of Palestinian prisoner Marwan Barghouti as part of the exchange deal, while the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced progress in the negotiations, without reaching a final agreement.
For weeks, Israeli media have been talking about unprecedented progress in a prisoner exchange deal, at a time when Hebrew reports say that “there has been no serious breakthrough in the ongoing ceasefire discussions in Gaza.”
The newspaper “Israel Today” previously reported from an informed source that progress had been achieved in the exchange deal talks, and that negotiations to formulate the deal may be completed after the Jewish holidays at the end of this month, with the agreement being implemented over long periods.
The newspaper said that the main point of disagreement between Hamas and Israel remains the number of prisoners who will be released, noting that despite the gaps between the two parties, the message received from the mediators (Egypt and Qatar) sparked more optimism compared to the past.
For its part, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation quoted sources it described as high-ranking, that unprecedented progress had occurred on the issue of the exchange deal, and that this week would be decisive in the indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel.
Israeli Channel 12 also quoted sources close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he has become more determined than ever to reach an agreement.
The families of the prisoners detained in Gaza, along with opposition leaders in Israel, have previously accused the Netanyahu government of thwarting negotiations on the deal to return the “abductees.”
This comes as the occupation army continues its war on Gaza since last October 7, leaving tens of thousands of martyrs, wounded and missing amid a humanitarian situation described as catastrophic and a worsening famine looming over the besieged Strip.