Tel Aviv [Israel], January 16 (ANI/TPS): Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas of backtracking on the ceasefire agreement and is refusing to convene the Cabinet to discuss it on Thursday morning.
“Hamas is backing out of the understandings and creating a last-minute crisis that prevents a settlement,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “Hamas is backing out of the explicit understandings agreed upon with the mediators and Israel in a last-minute blackmail attempt.”
He added, “Israel will not set a date for a cabinet and government meeting until the mediators announce that Hamas has approved all the details of the agreement.”
Subsequently, the government’s Directorate of Abductees, Returnees, and Missing Persons updated families of abductees that “in recent hours Hamas has added demands that contradict the agreement with the mediators.”
The directorate added, “Negotiations remain ongoing, and no official announcement has been made regarding their outcome or the scheduled cabinet meeting. Families are urged to rely solely on authorized sources for updates.”
The Cabinet was expected to meet in the morning. The delay was initially attributed to negotiators in Doha working to finalize the list of Palestinian terrorists to be released.
The agreement, which Qatari officials said would take effect on Sunday, outlines a series of prisoner and hostage exchanges. Of the 98 hostages, 33 women, children, elderly and sick captives would be released in the first stage in exchange for 110 Palestinian terrorists serving life sentences in Israeli prisons.
The deal prioritizes the release of hostages aged over 50 from the initial group of 33. The exchange ratios for this phase include one hostage to three prisoners serving life sentences and one hostage to 27 prisoners with lesser sentences.
The most contentious aspect of the agreement is that the fate of the remaining 65 hostages will be determined by negotiations to begin on the 16th day of the ceasefire. Critics say the phased approach condemns hostages not freed in the beginning to open-ended captivity and undermines Israel’s war gains.
The ceasefire would potentially lead to the release of some 1,000 Palestinian terrorists imprisoned in Israel. While many would be sent back to their homes in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, higher profile prisoners will be deported. After Israeli authorities publish a list of prisoners to be released, terror victims will have an opportunity to file legal petitions.
At least 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 95 remaining hostages, more than 30 have been declared dead. Hamas has also been holding captive two Israeli civilians since 2014 and 2015, and the bodies of two soldiers killed in 2014. (ANI/TPS)
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