Washington is working with Qatar, Turkey and Egypt to conclude an exchange deal in Gaza news

The White House said that the United States is working with Qatar, Turkey, and Egypt to reach a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, and added that Hamas is the main obstacle to reaching an agreement in Gaza.

Meanwhile, Axios quoted an informed source that US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan did not accompany President Joe Biden to Angola, and remained in Washington to continue working on an exchange deal in the Gaza Strip.

For his part, US President-elect Donald Trump said that if the detainees in the Gaza Strip are not released before his inauguration on January 20, there will be “hell” in the Middle East.

Trump said, in a post on social media, “The officials will receive blows more severe than any person has received in the long and rich history of the United States of America… Release the prisoners now.”

Trump added, “Everyone talks about the hostages being brutal, inhumane, and contrary to the will of the world, but these are just talk without action.”

The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) announced – yesterday evening, Monday – that 33 Israeli prisoners in its custody have been killed since October 2023, and confirmed that most of them were killed by the Israeli army’s bombing of various areas of the Gaza Strip.

Progress without optimism

In Tel Aviv, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation quoted a source familiar with the negotiations with Hamas as saying that Israel is not in an optimistic phase, but it has made progress on the prisoner exchange issue.

The source said that Hamas insists on stopping the war, noting that some Israeli government ministers oppose political aspects of the negotiations.

For its part, the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said that officials in the Army Staff informed the political leadership that the conditions were ripe for concluding a deal with Hamas following the end of the Lebanon war and the events in Syria, in addition to the change in the American administration.

In turn, Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz said that returning the detainees is the most important task for Israel and it will do everything to implement it.

Earlier, the Israeli Broadcasting Authority reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a meeting the night before last with ministers and the negotiating team charged with concluding a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas to discuss opportunities to revive deal negotiations. The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation said that there is progress in the negotiations, but it does not constitute a breakthrough and that the point related to ending the war remains the main obstacle.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog stressed the day before Sunday that the time had come to conclude a prisoner exchange deal between the Israeli government and the Palestinian resistance in the Gaza Strip.

“I repeat my call to the Israeli leadership, the mediators and the world that this is the right time to conclude a hostage deal,” Herzog said.

Maariv reported, “The Israeli President confirms that negotiations are underway behind the scenes to reach an exchange deal and believes that its conclusion is possible.”

The Palestinian resistance captured more than 200 Israeli settlers and soldiers in Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7, 2023, with the aim of exchanging them for thousands of Palestinian prisoners in occupation prisons.

The occupation killed many of its prisoners in the raids it launched on the Gaza Strip, while dozens of them were released in a partial deal carried out with Qatari mediation a year ago.

According to reports, the Palestinian resistance still holds 100 Israeli prisoners in the Gaza Strip.

With American support, Israel has been committing genocide since October 7, 2023, in the Gaza Strip, leaving more than 149,000 martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 11,000 missing, amid massive destruction and famine that killed dozens of children and the elderly, in one of the worst humanitarian disasters. In the world.