Protests continued in several Israeli cities to demand a prisoner exchange deal with the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), and while Israeli media accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yisrael Katz of To hinder negotiations, Hamas renewed its commitment to its conditions, including stopping the war on Gaza.
Hundreds of Israeli women demonstrated in several cities across Israel to demand an agreement with Hamas for the return of detainees to the Gaza Strip.
These protests took place in the cities of Haifa, Hadera and Tel Aviv, where the families of the prisoners expressed their intention to continue their protest movement and demanded the completion of the negotiation process to return the kidnapped people to their homes.
In a statement, families of Israeli prisoners in Gaza also called for protests today, Saturday, to demand a deal guaranteeing the return of all prisoners.
The families’ statement said dozens of protests would take place on Saturday in several cities, including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, adding that there was no additional time for those kidnapped in Gaza and warning that winter could lead to their dead.
Accusations against Netanyahu
Meanwhile, Israel’s Channel 12 said it was Netanyahu who forced the negotiating team to try to reach a partial deal, due to threats from his government coalition partners.
The channel added that it is Netanyahu who is preventing a comprehensive agreement that would return all Israeli detainees, and that Hamas has never changed its conditions, which are: Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, a complete ceasefire and the release of important Palestinian prisoners.
On Wednesday, officials with the Israeli negotiating team accused Netanyahu and Katz of making statements undermining prisoner exchange negotiations with Hamas.
Earlier on Wednesday, Katz said during a visit to the Israeli-occupied Philadelphia axis on the Gaza Strip’s border with Egypt that “security control over Gaza will remain in the hands of ‘Israel and that there will be security spaces, buffer zones and controls.’ sites in the Gaza Strip.
On Friday, Netanyahu told the US newspaper The Wall Street Journal that the war would continue until the complete elimination of Hamas, indicating that “Israel will not accept its presence on its borders.”
The officials said that if an agreement was not reached soon, the military would have difficulty finding new areas of maneuver, and they indicated that the agreement had reached its final stages, but that the officials’ statements had caused great damage.
In turn, Netanyahu’s office responded in a statement to these statements, saying that it was “another false echo of Hamas propaganda coming from unknown sources within the negotiating team who act on the basis of a political agenda.
The office confirmed that Netanyahu is determined to return all kidnapped people to their countries and to achieve the other goals of the Gaza war, including eliminating Hamas and ensuring that Gaza does not pose a threat to Israel at home. future, as Netanyahu did. announced several times.
Hamas conditions
On the other hand, Hamas leader Osama Hamdan told Al Jazeera that the movement had proposed an initiative including a complete ceasefire and a complete exchange of prisoners, but that Israel had rejected it, accusing Netanyahu for wanting to get rid of the Israeli prisoners’ file by killing them. them.
Hamdan added – in an interview with Al Jazeera – that the Israeli side has so far rejected three main demands: a complete ceasefire, a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and even the provision of maps for this withdrawal .
He pointed out that the last round of negotiations which took place 3 days ago did not result in any progress, even though the Israeli delegation included representatives from all security services and Netanyahu’s office.
Hamdan highlighted the flexibility shown by the movement in the negotiations, explaining that early last July it agreed to the timetable for the Israeli withdrawal and agreed to the proposed timetable.
Hamas said negotiations in Doha, mediated by Qatar and Egypt, were making serious progress.
The movement added, in a statement, that it showed responsibility and flexibility, but that the Israeli occupation imposed new issues and conditions related to withdrawal, ceasefire, prisoners and return displaced persons, which delayed the conclusion of the available agreement.
Prisoner exchange negotiations conducted with Qatari, Egyptian and American mediation have repeatedly failed, due to Netanyahu’s insistence on continuing to control the Philadelphia border axis between Gaza and Egypt, as well as the crossing from Rafah to Gaza, and to prevent the return of the Palestinian faction. fighters towards northern Gaza by searching returnees in the Netzarim corridor, in the middle of the strip.
Tel Aviv holds more than 10,300 Palestinians in its prisons and estimates there are 100 Israeli prisoners in the Gaza Strip, while Hamas has announced the killing of dozens of its prisoners in random Israeli raids.