Hamas offered to free all captives at once, but ending war ‘not a popular idea’ in Israel
Hamas’s latest proposal says that they will release all of the remaining Israeli captives, including male soldiers who were abducted on October 7, in exchange for an end to the war.
What’s different about this proposal is that we wouldn’t see releases over several weeks like we are now seeing in phase one. It would be a one-time release of all of the captives in exchange for the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops and an end to the war.
There’s been no official Israeli response to this, but within the Israeli political realm, especially among the right wing, it’s not a popular idea to end the war and leave Hamas in power, militarily and politically in Gaza. Netanyahu says that Israel is going to achieve the absolute destruction of Hamas in both of those aspects.
After weeks of delay, the Israeli PM finally agreed to dispatch a negotiating team for phase two of the talks, but it’s still unclear what Israel is looking for out of phase two.
Netanyahu says he wants to extend phase one, according to reports within Israeli media, to release more captives, but Hamas is adamant about being committed to the deal and wanting to see it through.
Hamas rejects Israel’s call for disarmament
Hamas has issued a statement saying it is ready for a second phase in which all of the captives held in Gaza are exchanged in “one go”. In the same statement, the Palestinian group rejected Israel’s call for its disarmament and removal from the Gaza Strip.
“The occupation’s condition of removing Hamas from the Gaza Strip is a ridiculous psychological war, and the withdrawal or disarmament of the resistance from Gaza is unacceptable,” said Hazem Qassem, a spokesman for the group.
“Any arrangements for the future of the Gaza Strip will be through national consensus,” he said.
Qassem also addressed the group’s decision to increase the number of captives to be freed during the next swap on Saturday from three to six.
“Doubling the number of prisoners to be released was done in response to a request from the mediators and to prove our seriousness in implementing all the terms of the agreement,” he said.
In exchange, Israel will release “a number of prisoners with life sentences and long sentences”, he added.
Israeli opposition leader says demands for Hamas’s departure obstructs deal
Yair Lapid has told broadcaster Kan that Hamas will not agree to a second phase of the ceasefire deal if the Israeli government demands that it leave the Palestinian enclave.
Lapid said such a demand is not a condition for a deal “but a means to obstruct it”.
He said the agreement needed to be finalised and the captives brought back, but said the “big concern” is that the Israeli government may not implement the second phase for “political reasons”.
The comments come after Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said indirect negotiations for a second stage of the truce deal will begin this week and that Israel “will not accept the continued presence of Hamas or any other terrorist organisation in Gaza”.
As we’ve been reporting, Hamas has rejected that demand, calling it “ridiculous” and saying “any arrangements for the future of the Gaza Strip will be through national consensus”.
Israel has upper hand, but has not been able to defeat Hamas
Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst, says both Hamas and Israel have been trying to take the moral high ground with their captive and prisoner swaps.
“Hamas continues to diminish. And despite the fact that throughout those exchanges we have seen over the past few weeks, Hamas showed itself to be able to withstand the Israeli assault – that does not mean it has the upper hand. In fact, it has the lower hand,” Bishara said.
“The problem for Israel is not that it does not have the upper hand. It’s that despite having the upper hand, it’s not able to defeat Hamas,” he said.
“But here we are and Israel is dictating the process – when, where aid goes in. And as long as those alternative housing units are not getting in, it’s making things quite difficult for the Palestinians.”
Bishara added the “bigger problem” is not going to be phase one, but phase two or three.
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