Qatar presents ‘new additions’ to Gaza hostage deal, sources tell ‘Post’
Israel has emphasized its commitment to adhering to the conditions presented by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In recent days, Qatar has conveyed a series of “new ideas, as additions to the existing framework, in hopes that the new proposal will enable Israel to accept the framework,” two sources with knowledge of the matter told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.
According to the sources, the proposal is based on the framework for the release of 10 hostages presented last week. Israel has said it was only willing to discuss a framework that includes the release of all the hostages.
Israeli officials met on Monday with a delegation of working-level representatives from Egypt in an attempt to coordinate the start of negotiations for the release of all the hostages held in Gaza.
The officials said Israel was adhering to the conditions presented by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
DEMONSTRATORS CALL for the release of the hostages and an end to the Israel-Hamas War, in Tel Aviv this week. Israel will survive its external enemies; the greater question is whether we will overcome our internal divisions, says the writer. (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)
PMO: Israel will only agree to full hostage deal
Israel would only accept a comprehensive deal that secures the release of all the captives at the same time, the Prime Minister’s Office said earlier this month.
“The Prime Minister’s Office clarifies that Israel will agree to a deal on condition that all the hostages are released in one go and in accordance with our conditions for ending the war, which include the disarming of Hamas, the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, Israeli control of the Gaza perimeter, and the installation of non-Hamas and non-Palestinian Authority governance that will live in peace with Israel,” it said in a statement.
In the weeks after Netanyahu’s statement, protests calling on the government to reach a deal continued across the country.
Demonstrators advocating for an immediate hostage deal blocked Tel Aviv’s Ayalon Highway in both directions last Friday and set a “Shabbat table” on fire, which was quickly extinguished by police.
“We are in the midst of another deliberate sabotage attempt by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,” the protest organizers said. “Those who were kidnapped under his watch, those who were supposed to be the first to be rescued, have been abandoned once again, and now they are being sacrificed on the altar of political considerations.”
Uri Sela, Pesach Benson, and Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.
