12/1/2024–|Last updated: 12/2/202412:00 AM (Mecca time)
The United States is currently leading new negotiations on Israeli prisoners in the Gaza Strip with the help of Qatar and Egypt, according to the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, which also reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has begun limited consultations on the prisoners, including ministers and a negotiating team.
In this regard, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation also reported that Netanyahu chaired a security meeting to discuss opportunities to revive prisoner exchange deal negotiations, and said that there is progress in the exchange deal negotiations, but it does not constitute a breakthrough.
The commission added that the point related to ending the war remains the main obstacle in the prisoner exchange negotiations in Gaza.
For its part, Axios reported, citing its sources, that an Israeli envoy will go to the United States to hold talks with the administration of outgoing President Joe Biden and advisors to Israeli President-elect Donald Trump, and added that the envoy will discuss in the United States the war in Gaza, the exchange deal, and the Iranian file.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog also said on Sunday that “there are negotiations taking place behind the scenes to return prisoners from the Gaza Strip,” considering that “there is a good opportunity to bring about a special change that would lead to a deal to return the kidnapped.”
He added during a meeting with the family of the prisoner Idan Alexander, a video of which the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas published yesterday, Saturday, “Now after Lebanon, it is time to reach a deal and return the prisoners to their homeland.”
Earlier on Sunday, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar claimed that there were indications of progress in a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas, considering that “there are indications that Hamas will be more flexible in light of the circumstances that have arisen,” in reference to a ceasefire agreement. The fire in Lebanon between Hezbollah and Israel without clarifying further details.
In this context, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that reaching an agreement on the Gaza Strip is “likely now,” in light of what he described as “Hamas’ isolation and Hezbollah’s exit from the battle,” but he added that it is not possible to predict the timing of such an agreement.
On the other hand, the Israeli army warned the political leadership that the food crisis in the Gaza Strip exposes detainees to the risk of death, according to what Israeli Channel 13 reported, citing its sources, adding that the food crisis in Gaza also leads to starvation of detainees.
Israel estimates that there are 101 prisoners being held in the Gaza Strip, while Hamas announced that dozens of prisoners were killed in random Israeli raids.
With American support, Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza since October 7, 2023, leaving more than 149,000 Palestinians martyred and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing, amid massive destruction and famine that killed dozens of children and the elderly, in one of the worst humanitarian disasters. In the world.
