Israel’s war cabinet rejected two of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s conditions for resuming talks with Hamas on a prisoner exchange and ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, local media reported Monday.
The cabinet rejected Netanyahu’s preconditions for continuing negotiations with Hamas, which included a list of Israeli prisoners in the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli public broadcaster KAN.
Setting such a condition at the beginning of the negotiations with Hamas is not a good idea, according to the Government of Israel, suggesting that this condition could be discussed at the end of the negotiations, as was done in the previous agreement, according to the broadcaster.
The war cabinet also criticized Netanyahu’s demand that a certain number of Palestinians be freed in exchange for every captured Israeli.
“There is no reason for this step, which makes negotiations difficult,” an unnamed informed Israeli source told the channel.
Netanyahu’s office has not yet commented on the media allegations.
Tel Aviv currently estimates that there are 136 Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip, while Israel holds as many as 8,800 Palestinians in its prisons, according to official sources on both sides.
Hamas announced that 70 Israeli prisoners were killed as a result of the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
Genocide-accused Israel launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by Hamas on October 7. So far, at least 30,534 people have been killed and 71,920 injured in Israeli attacks on the Palestinian enclave.
On January 26, following a genocide lawsuit filed by the Republic of South Africa, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel must refrain from any actions related to the killing, attacks and destruction of the residents of the Gaza Strip and take all measures to prevent genocide.
Attacks, however, continue unabated, and the delivery of aid remains insufficient to address the humanitarian disaster, AA writes.
