Israeli officials said on Sunday that negotiations to return prisoners have not stopped despite disagreements with the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), and that “the chance of bridging gaps is low,” while Israeli police arrested dozens of families and supporters of detainees in Gaza during a demonstration in Tel Aviv yesterday, Saturday.
An official in the cabinet explained to Haaretz that the ministers expressed their support for the continued authorization of the Israeli delegation if the discussions resume.
On the other hand, the Israeli “Wala” website reported that the army estimates that the achievements in Gaza may be eroded as negotiations on the return of detainees falter, and that the army accuses Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of not exploiting the operational “achievements” in Gaza to achieve political progress.
Arrests of prisoners’ families
In turn, Israeli media said that the police arrested about 30 families of prisoners in Gaza and their supporters during a demonstration in Tel Aviv yesterday, Saturday, as part of the ongoing protests demanding that the government return the prisoners and not waste the opportunity to conclude an exchange deal with the Palestinian resistance.
Last week, the Hamas movement said that it informed the mediators in Qatar and Egypt of its approval of their proposal regarding a ceasefire, and that the proposal includes three stages and includes a complete withdrawal of the occupation forces from Gaza, the return of the displaced, and an exchange of prisoners.
Despite Hamas’s approval of the deal proposal, the Israeli occupation army announced that its forces had begun a “surprise” attack against what it called the movement’s targets east of Rafah, coinciding with its forces taking control of the Rafah crossing and intensifying its bombing of the city.
Netanyahu’s office announced that the War Council unanimously decided to proceed with the Rafah operation to pressure Hamas to liberate the prisoners and achieve what it called the goals of the war that has continued in Gaza since the seventh of last October, leaving tens of thousands martyred, wounded and missing amid a humanitarian situation described as catastrophic and a worsening famine.
