With Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heading to Washington to meet President Donald Trump, diplomatic and domestic political pressure is rising on him to agree to a hostage deal with Hamas.
After Hamas, over the weekend, added demands to the temporary ceasefire proposal presented by President Trump, Prime Minister Netanyahu rejected them as being “unacceptable.” The Gaza-based jihadist group is demanding that Israel release several high-level terrorists, including leaders of various terrorist groups, in return for a partial release of hostages after 21 months of fighting that began as a result of the October 7 massacre.
President Trump’s proposal “would see about half of the living hostages and about half of the dead hostages held by terror groups in Gaza returned to Israel over 60 days, in five separate releases,” The Times of Israel noted.
The deal “would leave 22 hostages still held in Gaza, 10 of them believed to be alive. It is not clear whether Israel or Hamas would determine who is to be released,” the news website added.
On Sunday, the Israeli media outlet Ynetnews reported the details of the terrorists that Hamas has demanded as part of the deal:
An Israeli delegation left for Doha on Sunday to join the talks. According to reports, the negotiations center on a proposal for a 60-day truce during which 10 live Israeli hostages and 18 bodies of hostages who had been killed would be delivered to Israel and 1,000 Palestinians serving prison sentences, including 100 who were sentenced to life, would be released from jail.Among them would be prisoners Israel has thus far refused to release, some of whom would likely assume leadership positions in terror groups.Palestinian officials said the releases would change the political power struggle in the West Bank in particular and would include popular figures such as Marwan Barghouti, who is serving five life sentences + 40 years for his role in the murder of five Israelis and the wounding of more. (…)Hamas is demanding the release of Ahmad Sa’adat, the chairman of the Popular Front (PFLP), who was the mastermind of the assassination of Israeli minister Rehavam Zeevi in 2001. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison.Hamas is also demanding the release of Abdullah Bargouthi, a senior member of the Hamas military wing in the West Bank who was serving 67 life sentences for his role in fatal terror attacks during the second intifada.Other hardened terrorists that would be demanded by Hamas list include Hassan Salame who is serving a term of 46 life sentences for planning terror attacks killing 100 Israelis; and Abbas a-Sayed, who was sentenced to 35 life sentences for his role in the attack on the Park Hotel in Netanya in 2002, where 30 people were murdered.
In addition to the freeing of convicted terrorists, Hamas is asking Israel to restore the aid distribution mechanism, which gave it control over the food and other humanitarian supplies entering Gaza. The terrorist group also wants an indefinite truce in a bid to regroup and rearms its fighters, and a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the enclave.
Hamas made new demands regarding “aid distribution in the Gaza Strip, the withdrawal of IDF troops, and a commitment to not resume fighting after the 60-day period ends,” Ynetnews reported in a separate report Sunday.
The IDF on Sunday announced that it had eliminated the commander of Hamas’s naval force in a strike in northern Gaza. “[Last] Monday the IDF, guided by IDF and ISA intelligence, struck and eliminated the terrorist Ramzi Ramadan Abd Ali Saleh, Commander of Hamas’ Naval Force in the northern Gaza Strip,” the military disclosed in a statement.
“Saleh was a significant source of knowledge in the Hamas terrorist organization, and in recent weeks was involved in planning and advancing maritime terrorist attacks against IDF troops operating in the Gaza Strip,” the IDF statement added. “The terrorist was eliminated in Gaza City while he was operating in a structure with additional terrorists.”
IDF troops and special forces also carried out covert operations in Syria, destroying military infrastructure left behind by the ousted Assad regime along Israel’s northern border.
The IDF revealed on Sunday that “a reserve battalion from the 810th Brigade, together with troops from the Yahalom Unit, dismantled several former Syrian regime military posts in Syria.”
“These posts formed the enemy’s forward line near Mount Hermon summit and posed a direct threat to IDF positions in the Hermon sector,” the IDF added. “The brigade’s troops continue to proactively conduct operations in southern Syria to protect the residents of the State of Israel and the residents of the Golan Heights in particular.”
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