Israeli negotiators “have never been closer to an agreement” on the release of hostages in Gaza since the November 2023 truce in the war between Israel and Hamas, the Israeli defense minister said Monday , Israel Katz.
“We have not been this close to an agreement on the hostages since the previous agreement,” the minister told members of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Israeli Parliament, his spokesperson said, confirming comments made by Israel Katz held during this closed session and quoted in the Israeli press.
“Closer to the goal than we have ever been”
“Regarding the possibilities of reaching a prisoner exchange and ceasefire agreement between the occupation (Israel, Editor’s note) and the resistance (Hamas and other Palestinian groups, Editor’s note), I believe we are actually closer to the goal than we have ever been before, if (Israeli Prime Minister) Netanyahu does not intentionally derail things like he has done every time,” said at the AFP, on condition of anonymity, a Hamas official contacted in Doha.
In November 2023, a one-week truce, the only one so far in the war triggered on October 7, 2023 by the unprecedented Hamas attack, allowed the release of 105 hostages held in the Gaza Strip and that of 240 Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons.
Since then, vain efforts
All mediation efforts led by Egypt, the United States and Qatar since then to try to obtain a new truce have failed. At the beginning of November, Qatar announced that it was suspending its efforts, criticizing the two belligerents for their total lack of desire to reach an agreement.
But in recent weeks, diplomatic efforts have resumed, this time led jointly by Washington, Cairo, Doha and Ankara. On Thursday, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said during a visit to Israel that he had the “impression” that Benjamin Netanyahu was ready for an agreement for the release of the hostages kidnapped on October 7.
