The Chief of the Army Staff IsraeliHerzi Halevi, stated this Tuesday that the ground operation in the Gaza Strip “It helps create conditions to bring the hostages back, harms Hamas and creates pressure.”
These statements coincide with the progress of talks for an agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group, mediated by Egypt, the United States and Qatar, and which would include the release of hostages captured during the October 7 attack and taken to Loop.
The agreement would include a temporary five-day ceasefire, during which 50 hostages held by Hamas will be released in exchange for 300 Palestinian prisoners in Israel.
The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahucalled this Tuesday a meeting of both the war cabinet and the entire Government to address the issue.
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“I hope there is good news soon,” Netanyahu said in a statement released by his office.
For his part, the Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, assured this Tuesday that “the work of the troops of the Defense Forces of Israel “It is contributing, step by step, to achieving the defeat of Hamas and the return of the hostages to their homes.”
“I think we will have to make difficult and important decisions in the coming days. “There is no moment during this war, 45 days later, when I don’t think about the hostages and imagine their faces: the children, the soldiers, the women, the elderly, the Holocaust survivors, everyone who is there,” he added.
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“I am aware of the pain that the families are experiencing and I would like to tell them that for me the return of the hostages is a primary objective and I will do everything possible to achieve it,” the minister said.
In parallel with these statements, some of the far-right members of Netanyahu’s Government have anticipated that they will oppose the agreement, considering it contrary to the interests of Israel.
The Minister of National Security, anti-Arab extremist Itamar Ben Gvir, emphasized that an agreement with Hamas would be “a disaster” for Israel.
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For his part, the former Minister of Defense and current member of the war cabinet, Benny Gantz, defended the agreement and highlighted that “the return of the hostages is a moral duty and an integral part of the resilience that will allow Israel win the war.”
Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al Ansari said today during a press conference that “the agreement between Hamas and Israel for the exchange of hostages is close. “There are only some logistical and non-essential details missing so they can be resolved.”
The Egyptian sources consulted about the agreement detailed that those released would be children and women and that their release “will be carried out in stages, at a rate of 10 Israeli prisoners per day compared to 30 Palestinian prisoners.”
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They also highlighted that the pact will allow entry into the Gaza Strip of 300 trucks with food, medical and fuel aid.
The head of the political wing of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, exiled in Qatar, affirmed this Tuesday that the group is close to reaching a truce agreement with Israel, after a month and a half of a war that has left more than 14,500 dead, the vast majority of them in Loop.
Israel declared war on Hamas on October 7 following an attack by the Islamist group that included rocket fire and the infiltration of some 3,000 militiamen who brutally killed some 1,200 people and kidnapped more than 240 in Israeli communities near the Gaza Strip.
Israel’s air, naval and ground forces have since counterattacked on the Palestinian enclave, where there are already more than 14,100 dead, most of them children and women, and estimates that more than 6,800 are missing under the rubble or their bodies lying in streets and roads without being able to be recovered, so the number of fatalities could be even higher.
