T. Belman. Bibi called these demands “delusional”. So why is he prepared to give a written response. The proper stance is not to reply and simply say, if Hamas wants a disccussion, it should first make a better offer. He should not dignify delusional; demands by replying tp them in writing. At least he has turned of the discussion to the full cabinet.
TV report says war cabinet members agreed to draw up formal response to terror group’s conditions for hostage deal, as families of captives demand urgent meeting with them
Members of the war cabinet have reportedly decided to draw up a response to Hamas’s proposal for a hostage release deal, after rejecting its demands for an agreement.
According to reports Friday, Israel is willing to hold talks on the basis of a proposed agreement that Hamas was responding to, but opposes most of the conditions made by the Gaza-ruling terror group, which include an end to the war sparked by its shock October 7 attack in which Palestinian terroirsts killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 253 hostage.
The original framework was crafted during a Paris meeting last month of top officials from the US, Israel, Qatar and Egypt.
Hamas offered its response to the framework on Tuesday, demanding that Israel, among other things, release at least 1,500 Palestinian security prisoners, withdraw its troops fully from Gaza, eventually agree to a permanent ceasefire and take steps to reduce its sovereignty on the Temple Mount.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the demands “delusional” and reportedly rejected an Egyptian proposal to send a representative to Cairo in order to move forward with the negotiations.
The war cabinet discussed the Hamas response further Thursday night. Ministers agreed that Israel would not accept another two of the Hamas demands — that the IDF withdraw its forces from the “corridor” that splits the northern and southern Gaza Strip, and allow for the return of civilians to northern Gaza during the first stage of the pause, the Axios news site reported. However, it would be willing to discuss withdrawing troops from the major Gaza population centers during the pause.
These stances were passed along to the mediators, as well as Israel’s rejection of Hamas’s demand that language be added to the agreement pertaining to a permanent ceasefire, Axios said, citing an official who said Israel does not want to commit to refraining from resuming strikes against Hamas after the deal was implemented.
Israel informed the mediators that it would not discuss a demand included by Hamas for Israel to “lift the siege over Gaza,” the official was quoted as saying. The report said Israel also told the mediators the number of prisoners the Palestinians were demanding was not reasonable, as were all demands not related to the Gaza war.
Israeli officials cited in the report said while they were not sending representatives to Cairo for talks now, they were in constant talks with the mediators and were willing to send officials if some of the gaps are closed. CIA chief William Burns was reportedly due to visit the Egyptian capital in the coming days in an effort to move the talks forward.
According to the Channel 12 news report, which said the war cabinet agreed to insist that the release of “heavy” Palestinian security prisoners — apparently meaning those convicted of murder and other grave offenses — be pushed to a later stage of the deal, National Unity ministers Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot requested that Israel’s response be formally drafted and sent immediately to the Egyptian and Qatari mediators.
Netanyahu rejected the request, instead saying that he wanted to bring the response to the full cabinet in what will likely delay the process by several days, the network said, while noting that it was also less likely to be approved given the many hardline ministers who oppose making concessions to Hamas in exchange for the hostages.
It was unclear how that squared with the Axios report saying Israel did in fact pass along a series of responses to the mediators. Channel 12 subsequently said Israel’s response was merely passed along verbally to the mediators, but not more formally in writing.
Also Friday, the relatives of hostages held by Hamas called for an urgent meeting with the war cabinet, sending its members a a stinging letter questioning the forum’s commitment to the return of their loved ones.
The letter from the Hostages and Missing Families Forum cited the decision not to send officials to Cairo, reported “government coordination to attack the release deal,” and what is called an “organized campaign of incitement” against the hostages by unspecified media figures.
“The families demand to meet immediately with the members of the cabinet and hear if it is still committed to the release of the hostages, or if the negotiating authority needs to be transferred to a person who sees themself as committed to the saving of life,” the letter said.
Hamas is also holding the bodies of fallen IDF soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin since 2014, as well as two Israeli civilians, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who are both thought to be alive after entering the Strip of their own accord in 2014 and 2015 respectively.
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