“We are willing,” Israel’s prime minister told a cabinet meeting. “We are negotiating under fire” and “can see cracks beginning to appear” in what Hamas has demanded in its negotiations, he said.
“Military pressure is working,” he added. “It works because it acts simultaneously. On the one hand, it crushes Hamas’s military and governmental capabilities, and on the other hand, it creates the conditions for the release of our hostages.”
Netanyahu said on Saturday night “the security cabinet convened and decided to increase the pressure, which had already increased, in order to further pound Hamas and create the optimal conditions for releasing our hostages”.
Tens of thousands of people who rallied in Tel Aviv and throughout Israel on Saturday night accused the prime minister of deprioritising a deal to free those still held captive in Gaza….
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Under pressure at international and domestic level, Netanyahu stressed that “Hamas must lay down its arms”, adding that its leaders would be allowed to leave after they did so, and Israel was also willing to talk about “the final stage” of a hostage release-ceasefire deal with the militant group.
“We are ready,” he said. “Hamas will lay down its weapons. Its leaders will be allowed to leave. We will ensure general security in the Gaza Strip and enable the implementation of the Trump plan, the voluntary immigration plan.”..
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Hamas stated on Saturday that the group had approved a new ceasefire proposal put forward by mediators, and urged Israel to support it. Netanyahu’s office confirmed receipt of the proposal and said Israel had submitted a counterproposal.
The details of the latest mediation efforts remain undisclosed, although, according to media reports in Israel, Netanyahu’s government insists on the release of 10 of the 24 hostages…..
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