Jerusalem, Feb 14 (EFE).- Talks in Cairo on a possible ceasefire between Israel and the Islamist group Hamas with mediators from Qatar and the United States are at a standstill after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday ruled out sending an Israeli delegation for further hostage negotiations.
Netanyahu announced that they would not return to the negotiating table unless Hamas changed its demands, calling the draft on the table “delusional.”
“In Cairo, Israel was not given any new proposal by Hamas for the release of our hostages,” the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said Wednesday.
“A change in Hamas’s positions will allow progress in the negotiations,” the statement added.
The Islamist group’s latest cease-fire proposal calls for Israeli forces to withdraw from the Palestinian enclave and for hostages to be traded for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, including high-ranking prisoners serving life sentences.
Netanyahu said Israel would continue to seek the hostages’ release through “strong military pressure and very firm negotiations.”
In a statement, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said that “it appears that some members of the cabinet have decided to sacrifice the lives of the hostages without admitting it,” as the decision will mean a “death sentence” for the remaining hostages.
During the only ceasefire in the Gaza conflict, at the end of November, Hamas agreed to release 105 prisoners; earlier, four more hostages were released and a female soldier was rescued by the army.
Two days ago, two civilian hostages were rescued in a brutal military operation in Rafah, southern Gaza, in which a hundred Gazans were killed.
A significant portion of Israeli society appears to favor the overthrow of Hamas over the rescue of the hostages, with 40% prioritizing that over 32% who believe the hostages are more important, according to a poll released Wednesday by the Jewish People’s Policy Institute.
Among Israeli Jews, the gap widens, with 47% prioritizing the defeat of Hamas over the return of hostages, which is favored by 25%, while a majority of Israeli Arabs (61%) prefer to bring back the prisoners before it is too late. EFE
pms/ics
