12/30/2024–|Last updated: 12/30/202409:07 AM (Mecca time)
Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper quoted security sources and officials as saying that not going into details about the next day in the Gaza Strip would return Israel to the situation before Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, and indicated that the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) is still capable of ruling the Strip.
The newspaper indicated that the sources confirmed their support for reaching a partial or complete ceasefire agreement immediately, and they warned that failure to take decisions regarding Gaza “will undermine the achievements of the war and will not bring down Hamas.”
The newspaper indicated that the sources it spoke to confirmed that the ceasefire negotiations and the prisoner and detainee exchange deal are continuing and that some gaps remain, and said that all parties are trying to reach understandings before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in weeks.
While the sources confirmed that the negotiating team is cautiously optimistic about the deal and say that there is progress, they indicated that their estimates say that Hamas is ready to reach a deal, but on its conditions.
For its part, Army Radio quoted sources as saying, “It cannot be said that the exchange deal negotiations are frozen, but there are no new developments so far,” and explained that “the army is trying to put military pressure on Hamas to conclude a deal despite the failure of this policy over the past months.”
Hamas flexibility
On the other hand, Hamas leader Osama Hamdan said that the movement went to the utmost flexibility regarding negotiations on the condition of stopping the aggression, comprehensive withdrawal, and relief and reconstruction without conditions.
Hamdan confirmed in an interview with Al-Aqsa satellite channel that “the enemy turns against what is agreed upon at every negotiating station,” and pointed out that Israel is insisting on two things in the negotiations, which are not to “completely withdraw from the Gaza Strip and stop the aggression.”
Regarding the occupation army’s announcement that it was able to eliminate and weaken the resistance’s capabilities, the Hamas leader said, “The occupation’s talk about breaking the resistance has proven to be a failure, and the resistance is still writing the most wonderful images of heroism,” noting that “the scenes broadcast by the resistance represent a small part of the heroism.” controlled by our Palestinian people.
More than once, the negotiations on the prisoner exchange deal – which is being conducted with Qatari-Egyptian-American mediation – have faltered as a result of Netanyahu’s insistence on “continuing control over the Philadelphia border axis between Gaza and Egypt and the Rafah crossing in Gaza, and preventing the return of Palestinian faction fighters to northern Gaza by inspecting the returnees through the Netzarim axis.” In the middle of the sector.
For its part, Hamas insists on a complete withdrawal of Israel from the Gaza Strip and a complete cessation of the war in order to accept any agreement.
Tel Aviv holds more than 10,300 Palestinians in its prisons, while it is estimated that there are 100 Israeli detainees in the Gaza Strip, while Hamas announced the killing of dozens of detainees in random Israeli raids.
With American support, Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza since October 7, 2023, leaving more than 153,000 Palestinian martyrs and wounded – most of them children and women – and more than 11,000 missing, amid massive destruction and an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.