The head of the Mossad sees the possibility of concluding an exchange deal with Hamas

David Barnea's position is supported by the Ministers in the War Council, Gantz and Eisenkot (Reuters)

Israeli Channel 12 said that the head of the Israeli intelligence service (Mossad), David Barnea, sees the possibility of concluding a deal if Israel shows flexibility regarding the return of residents of the northern Gaza Strip, despite the response of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).

The channel said that the two Ministers in the War Council, Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot, support the position of the Mossad chief, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes him and insists on launching an operation in Rafah.

Hamas had previously said that the basic principles underlying its vision of the negotiation file, which it presented to the mediators in Egypt and Qatar, are based on five main points: a ceasefire, an unconditional return of the displaced, the withdrawal of the Israeli occupation army from Gaza, the entry of aid and relief materials, and the return of... Reconstruction.

She stressed that these principles and foundations that she presented are considered necessary for the agreement and the prisoner exchange file, and that they will remain biased towards the rights and concerns of the Palestinian people.

In a related development, Israeli Channel 13 said that a stormy discussion took place in the War Cabinet session yesterday, Thursday, but the session was canceled minutes before it was scheduled to take place.

The channel quoted a source close to Netanyahu that the reason for canceling the session was Gallant’s inability to attend.

During the discussion, Eizenkot called for doing everything possible to conclude an agreement and return the detainees, while Netanyahu, in return, insisted that military pressure was the key to releasing the detainees, and rejected demands to expand the powers of the negotiating team, especially with regard to the return of residents to the northern Gaza Strip.

Disagreements are increasing between Netanyahu and the Israeli War Council (Israeli press)

Increasing disagreements

Disagreements are increasing between Netanyahu and members of the War Council, as the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation revealed a difficult confrontation between Netanyahu, Gantz, and Eisenkot regarding the prisoner deal.

For its part, Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported that Netanyahu transferred the discussion of the deal to the expanded government, where there is a greater number of opponents to it.

Netanyahu said that he is personally managing the negotiations to recover all the “hostages,” not some of them. This comes in light of the cancellation of a session of the War Cabinet that was planned to address the prisoner exchange deal.

This came in a statement issued by Netanyahu's office after the latter met with the families of detained soldiers in Gaza without specifying the place of the meeting. This is his first meeting with them since Israel launched its war on the besieged Strip.

Netanyahu said - according to the statement - “Since we have returned 123 detainees so far (during the temporary truce), I am forced to return all the rest,” and added, “I will not leave any of them behind. I am working for this day and night.”

He also said, according to the statement, that the cards must be used wisely in negotiations, noting that they have “strategic assets” of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), considering this matter “another key to recovering the hostages.”

Netanyahu claimed that "the continued strong military pressure that we have exerted and will exert is what brought back the detainees, and will bring back everyone."

He also said that they took control of the northern Gaza Strip and Khan Yunis (south) and were preparing to enter Rafah (south), despite international and international opposition to the consequences of any military operation in Rafah, which is crowded with displaced people.

It is noteworthy that Israeli media quoted the families of the detained soldiers before their meeting with Netanyahu as saying that the security services and the state intimidated them and that no minister communicated with them. They said, “We have remained silent since the beginning of the war at the request of the security services.”

The families of the captured Israeli soldiers demonstrated, for the first time since the beginning of the war on the Gaza Strip, due to the ban imposed on them by security and military measures, while Tel Aviv and other cities are witnessing massive daily demonstrations demanding that the Israeli government expedite the conclusion of a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas.

Families of Israeli prisoners demonstrated yesterday evening to demand that the Israeli government expedite the conclusion of a deal with Hamas (Reuters)

Head of the Shin Bet in Cairo

In a related context, the Axios news website reported from two Israeli sources that the head of the Israeli Internal Security Agency (Shin Bet), Ronen Bar, visited Cairo and met with his Egyptian counterpart, Abbas Kamel, on Monday, amid tensions between Israel and Egypt due to the war in Gaza and the possibility of the Israeli army expanding its operations to the city of Rafah on the Borders with Egypt.

Israeli officials said that Barr traveled to Cairo to discuss issues not related to detainees. Issues included the situation along the Salah al-Din Axis (Philadelphia Axis) in the Gaza Strip, and how Egypt and Israel can work together to prevent weapons smuggling into Gaza. They also discussed possible post-war plans.

The Shin Bet refused to comment. There has been no comment yet from Egyptian officials.

Cairo fears that a military operation in Rafah, especially along the Philadelphia Corridor—the narrow strip of land from the Palestinian side to Egypt—would lead to a massive influx of Palestinian refugees into Sinai.

Indirect negotiations are continuing in Doha between Israel and Hamas, mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, with the aim of reaching a prisoner exchange deal and a second truce between the two parties.

Neither Israel nor Hamas specified the number of captured Israeli soldiers in Gaza, while Israel holds more than 9,000 Palestinians in its prisons, and estimates that there are about 134 Israeli prisoners in Gaza, while Hamas announced that 70 of them were killed in random Israeli raids during the ongoing aggression on the Gaza Strip.

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies + American press + Israeli press