Israelis block a main road to demand the release of prisoners held by the resistance in Gaza (Reuters)
Yesterday evening, Friday, Israeli Channel 12 reported that relatives of Israeli prisoners in the Gaza Strip received signals from their detained family members that they were alive.
The channel said, "This week, dozens of families of the kidnapped received signals from their loved ones detained by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) that they are alive."
She explained that due to censorship restrictions, no additional information could be published other than the fact that “the families heard new information about their loved ones in captivity.”
The channel did not disclose the way in which these signals reached the families.
Recently, Israel, through intermediaries, asked Hamas to obtain a list of the names of prisoners still alive in Gaza, according to what was published by Israeli media.
The channel said: “Some of the families of the kidnapped, not necessarily those who received the long-awaited signals this week, intend to increase the pressure and move to more extreme activities than was the case (last) night with the closure of the highway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.”
The families of the Israeli prisoners are demanding an immediate deal to exchange prisoners in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners, and a prolonged ceasefire in Gaza.
Qatar and Egypt, with the help of the United States, are mediating between Israel and Hamas, in order to reach an agreement.
In this regard, the Israeli channel said that negotiations for a prisoner deal have not yet yielded results.
The channel indicated that amid fears of the failure of the negotiations, the army is preparing to expand the fighting in the Gaza Strip to additional areas.
She added: “Meanwhile, Israel is focusing on Khan Yunis (south), and pursuing the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Sinwar.
According to the channel, the army claims that next Sunday will likely be the test;
If we do not see progress towards reaching an agreement this week, Israel is preparing to expand its military operation to the central camps first, then Rafah (south), but these plans have not yet received official and final approval for implementation.
Invasion of Rafah
Regional and international warnings have recently escalated regarding the Israeli bombing of Rafah, with preparations for a ground invasion, and the danger this poses to hundreds of thousands of displaced people who have taken refuge there as their last refuge in the far south of the Strip.
While international estimates indicate that there are between 1.2 and 1.4 million Palestinians in Rafah, after the Israeli army, since the beginning of its incursion into the sector on October 27, forced hundreds of thousands to flee from the north to the south, claiming that it is a “safe zone,” which is what It was proven incorrect with the fall of thousands of martyrs and wounded in the south, including displaced people.
Recently, the Israeli war government discussed a plan to “evacuate” Palestinians from Rafah in preparation for its invasion, despite international warnings that such a step might lead to massacres against hundreds of thousands of displaced people who have no other place to go after they were forced to flee from all areas of the Strip, under the burden of the war.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has been waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip that has left tens of thousands of civilian victims, most of them children and women, in addition to an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe and massive destruction of infrastructure, which led to Tel Aviv being brought before the International Court of Justice on charges of “ Genocide".
Source: Israeli press + Anadolu Agency