12/16/2023–|Last updated: 12/16/202311:41 PM (Mecca time)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that military pressure is necessary to return “the detainees and win the war,” amid diplomatic efforts to complete a new exchange deal.
Netanyahu indicated in a joint press conference with Defense Minister Yoav Galant and Defense Council Minister Benny Gantz that they are determined to “continue fighting until the elimination of Hamas and the return of our kidnappers.”
Netanyahu explained that he informed the Israeli negotiators that the army’s pressure helps efforts to recover the “hostages,” and stressed that he will not stop the war and will not withdraw Israeli forces from Gaza, as Hamas demands, before achieving the goals of the war and returning the detainees.
When asked about the prisoner release negotiations, Netanyahu said that they do not discuss negotiations in public, but pointed out that they conduct the negotiations in the language of blood and fire.
While Gantz indicated that they will do everything to free their prisoners from Gaza.
The press conference coincided with demonstrations by families of prisoners in Gaza, during which they demanded an end to the war and negotiations to release their sons.
Tel Aviv Tribune’s correspondent reported that thousands of demonstrators in “Hostages Square” began heading to the main entrance of the Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv to stage a sit-in there.
Netanyahu’s statements contradict what the Israeli Broadcasting Authority had reported that Tel Aviv is considering submitting a new proposal to release its prisoners held by the resistance in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Radio reported that this approach by the Netanyahu government came in the wake of the incident of the killing of 3 captured soldiers in the Shujaiya neighborhood in Gaza.
Israeli Channel 12 also reported that the War Command Council will discuss, at its meeting on Saturday, a new exchange deal with the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).
The channel quoted a political official as saying, “The upcoming negotiations will be more complex.”
Prisoner exchange negotiations
In this context, the American website Axios reported, citing informed sources, that Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani met with Mossad Director David Barnea on Friday evening in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, and they discussed resuming talks to ensure the release of detainees and prisoners held by Hamas in Gaza.
The website also said that the director of the CIA and the head of Egyptian intelligence were briefed on the details of the meeting, as they are partners in trying to renew negotiations.
Reuters said that Barnea returned to Israel early on Saturday morning to provide a statement to Netanyahu.
According to Reuters, which quoted Egyptian sources, during their contacts with the mediators, Israeli officials appear more open to reaching a new ceasefire agreement and the release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the release of Israeli prisoners in Gaza.
According to Egyptian sources, Israeli officials appeared to have changed their minds on some points they had previously rejected, but the two sides did not go into further details.
In a related context, the former commander of the Golani Brigade, Moshe Kaplinsky, said, “The return of the kidnapped people is only possible through a deal and not through military pressure.”
The Hamas movement has confirmed on more than one occasion its refusal to discuss any prisoner exchange deal without a complete ceasefire and cessation of aggression.
In the Battle of Al-Aqsa Flood, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas movement, were able to capture 239 Israelis, most of them soldiers, and exchanged civilians for Palestinian prisoners, including children and women, during the humanitarian truce.
