Israeli media quoted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as saying that what US President Joe Biden presented regarding the deal proposal was not accurate, refusing to agree to stop the war on the Gaza Strip before achieving its goals.
Netanyahu said – according to what was reported by the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation – that he “will not review the details of the deal, but what Biden presented is not accurate and there are details that have not been revealed.”
He added, “We can stop the fighting for 42 days to return the hostages, but we will not give up absolute victory.”
Likewise, he was quoted by the Israel Hayom newspaper, where he said, “Israel can stop the fighting to return the kidnapped people, but it cannot stop the war.”
Channel 12 also quoted him as saying, “Biden presented only part of the broad outlines of the deal, and we will not stop the war without achieving its goals,” adding that the number of abductees who will be released in the first phase of the deal has not yet been determined.
Last Friday evening, US President Joe Biden announced the details of a three-stage Israeli proposal, which includes a ceasefire, prisoner exchange, and the reconstruction of Gaza.
The War Council discusses the deal
In this context, the Israeli Broadcasting Authority reported, citing informed sources, that the War Council discussed the possibility of sending the negotiating delegation to Cairo, to continue contacts with the mediators.
The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation added that the War Council decided to wait until a positive response was received from the mediators before sending the delegation.
Meanwhile, the US State Department said that Secretary Anthony Blinken made two separate calls with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant and Minister in the Israeli War Council Benny Gantz.
The US State Department said that Blinken stressed to Gallant that the ceasefire agreement proposal revealed by President Biden includes greater integration of Israel in the region and enhances its security interests in the long term.
Blinken also reviewed with Minister Gantz the security benefits for Israel if it agreed to the ceasefire agreement proposal.
The US State Department stated that Blinken stressed to Gantz that Hamas must accept the ceasefire proposal without delay.
The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reported that Defense Minister Gallant informed Blinken that any deal in Gaza must include the dismantling of Hamas as a governmental and military authority.
Gallant had said that Israel would not accept the idea of Hamas remaining as an authority at any stage, and that work was underway to find alternative parties to govern the Gaza Strip.
Gallant added that combining the military operation with preparations for the formation of an alternative government in Gaza will achieve two goals of the war, which are the overthrow of Hamas’ rule and the destruction of its military power, and the return of the Israeli prisoners detained in Gaza.
In turn, Israeli War Council Minister Benny Gantz said that he spoke with the US Secretary of State about the efforts made to reach a deal to release the prisoners.
Gantz added that he informed Blinken that returning the prisoners is a top priority, and that he will do his utmost to exhaust every opportunity to do so, stressing the importance of American pressure on the mediators, in order to implement the broad lines set by Israel.
Maariv newspaper quoted the Israeli Minister of Science as saying that the proposed deal is not the end of the war, but at certain stages the shooting will stop.
The Israeli minister stressed that the government failed to protect its citizens and must “return all the kidnapped people.”
A minister calls for the occupation of Gaza
As for Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu, he went further and said that there is only one path to victory, which is to destroy Hamas and occupy the Gaza Strip, according to him.
For his part, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said that the Israeli government must send a delegation to Cairo today, to put the final details on an agreement that will return the kidnapped people to their homes.
Lapid added that he reiterated his offer to give Netanyahu a political safety net to implement the exchange deal.
Meanwhile, dozens of family members of Israeli prisoners detained in Gaza gathered in front of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee hall, in the city of Jerusalem, and this demonstration coincided with a closed meeting held by Netanyahu with members of the committee.
The demonstrators tried to intercept the committee members as they were heading to the session, which led to verbal altercations between the demonstrators and a member of the Knesset, while the mother of one of the prisoners screamed and said that she would not allow anyone to return her son’s body.
Egypt calls for acceptance of the proposal
On the other hand, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, on Monday, called on both the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and Israel to accept the current proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and an exchange of prisoners.
Shukri said, in a press conference with his Spanish counterpart Jose Manuel Albarez in Madrid, “Hamas and Israel must accept the current proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the exchange of prisoners and detainees.”
He added that we are awaiting Israel’s response to the deal proposal after Hamas announced that it had received it positively, stressing that the continuation of the war has become unacceptable due to the extremely dangerous effects resulting from it.
He stressed that Egypt was clear about its rejection of the Israeli presence at the Rafah border crossing between the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip, and that it is difficult for the Rafah crossing to continue to operate without a Palestinian administration.
Qatar, Egypt, and the United States of America – in their capacity as mediators in the ongoing discussions to ensure a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of hostages and detainees – called on both Hamas and Israel to conclude an agreement that embodies the principles outlined by Biden in the speech of May 31, 2024, according to a joint statement on Saturday.
Those principles that Biden spoke about include the withdrawal of Israeli forces from all populated areas in the Gaza Strip, and the release of detainees, including women, the elderly, and the wounded, in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, and the entry of aid into the Strip, according to what a Qatari Foreign Ministry statement said on Saturday.
With the mediation of Egypt and Qatar and the participation of the United States, Israel and Hamas have been conducting faltering indirect negotiations for months, while the Israeli war on Gaza has continued since October 7, 2023.
The Israeli war on Gaza left more than 118,000 dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and about 10,000 missing amid massive destruction and famine that claimed the lives of children and the elderly.