The Israeli government said early Sunday, it supports the extension proposal First phase of tribute In Gaza through Ramadan and Passover, although Hamas insisted on a conversation on the second phase of a tribute.
The statement of the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahua’s office followed a few minutes after the end of the first phase, and as the conversations began in the launch of the second phase that focused on the end of the war and seeing all the remaining life hostages in Gaza.
The statement gives new details about what Israel described as an American proposal: extension of the break of fire through the Passover, or April 20. On the first day of frame, half of the hostages, living and dead, will be released. The rest would be released if an agreement on a permanent tribute is reached.
The statement states that it was proposed after US envoy Steve Witkoff got “the impression that at this stage there is no possibility of bridging the positions of the parties to end the war and that more time is needed to talk about the permanent interruption of the fire”.
Hamasa was not the immediate comment, which previously rejected the Israeli proposal for the extension of the first phase of interrupting fire in 42 days, twisting its length-saying that he was going in accordance with the trial agreement, according to a member of the group that requested anonymity to talk about closed door negotiations.
Officers of Israel and the mediator of Qatar, Egypt and the United States were involved in negotiations on the launch of the second phase of the trial in Cairo. But Basem Naim, a member of the Hamas political office, said Associated Press that there was no “progress” before the Israeli negotiators returned home on Friday. Hamas did not attend, but his position was presented through Egyptian and catard mediators.
According to the terms of the fire interruption agreement, the fighting should not continue while negotiations on the second phase are underway.
The new statement of Israel says he can return to the fight “if he believes that the negotiations are ineffective,” and noticed Hamas’s rejection to accept the proposal for extending the first phase.
However, “If Hamas changes his position, Israel will immediately negotiate all the details of the Witkoff plan,” the statement said.
Prior to the new statement of Israel, the Egyptian official involved in conversations spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the negotiations. The official said that Hamas, Qatar and Egypt wanted to continue with the existing tribute agreement, and they rejected Israel’s proposal to extend the truce in four weeks by placing on Saturday without an official negotiations in the second phase.
The Egyptian official said that they now want to start negotiations in the second phase, but they called for hostages during the negotiations. Hamas insisted on the complete implementation of the trial conditions.
The first phase, which paused for 15 months of fighting in Gaza, recorded the release of 33 hostages, including eight bodies, in exchange for almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. Hundreds of thousands of people returned home to the northern Gaza, the aids in the territory increased, and the Israeli forces retreated to the tampons of the zone.
Hamas began the war with its 7th October 2023, a terrorist attack that remained about 1,200 dead in Israel, mostly civilians, and took about 250 hostages. Since then, the Israel’s military offensive has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to health officers in Gaza, who are no different civil and combat death, but say that more than half of the dead were women and children.
According to Israel, 32 of the 59 hostages still in Gaza are dead.
Two sides agreed in a three -phase agreement on the termination of fire in January. The second phase conversations were supposed to start the first week of February. The Israelis gathered on Saturday night to ask their government to continue the agreement.
Hamas again confirmed his “complete commitment to the implementation of all the terms of the agreement in all his stages and details” and urged the international community to press Israel to move to another phase immediately.
Other challenges complicate the future of the interruption of fire. Israel said Hamas could not be involved in gauze management after the war. Netanyahu also excluded any role in Gaza for the Palestinian administration that supports Westerners, dominated by Hamas’s chief rival, Fatah.
On Saturday, the Hamasa Mohamed Darwish leader reiterated that the group was ready to surrender power to the Palestinian national consensus government or the Egyptian body of technocrats not aligned with Hamas or Fatah. His comments arrived in an open letter to the Arab leaders summit next week in Cairo. Hamas rejected Israel’s proposal for his leadership to go to exile.
Wikoff, Talking about CBS News’ “Confront the Nation” last weekend, said that the insurance of the publication of the last American national who is believed to be among the surviving hostages, Edan Alexander was “front and center for us.” Alexander served with Israeli defense forces when he was abducted during a terrorist attack on October 7th,
“I know his parents,” Witkoff told CBS News. “We’re talking all the time. He’s critical. It’s one of the most important goals of President Trump to get all Americans home, and we’ll be successful in bringing Edana home.”
