Families of Israeli hostages demand ‘full mandate’ for negotiating team to reach deal with Hamas

By Abdelraouf Arnaout and Betul Yilmaz

JERUSALEM (AA) – Families of Israeli captives in Gaza demanded Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu grant a negotiating team traveling to Qatar on Monday a “full mandate” to reach an agreement with the Palestinian group Hamas.

The delegation is set to travel to the Qatari capital, Doha, on Monday to pursue talks regarding a Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement with Hamas.

“The families of hostages ask Netanyahu to grant a full mandate to the negotiating team to immediately reach an agreement to return all 59 hostages at once,” the families said in a statement on X.

The families said that reaching a comprehensive agreement to return all the hostages “is possible.”

Israel estimates that 59 hostages are still held in Gaza, with at least 22 of them alive. They are expected to be set free in a second phase of the Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement, which would require Israel to fully withdraw its forces from Gaza and end the war permanently.

In an interview with the Israeli public broadcaster KAN on Sunday, US envoy Adam Boehler said Hamas had proposed a five- to 10-year truce during which it would disarm and withdraw from Gaza’s political scene.

There was no comment from Hamas on the US envoy’s statements.
Israel cut off the electricity supply to Gaza on Sunday, in the latest move to tighten a stifling blockade on the enclave despite the ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement.

Last week, Israel stopped humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, prompting warnings from local and human rights groups of a return to widespread hunger for the Palestinian population.

The first six-week phase of the ceasefire deal ended in early March without Israel agreeing to move to the second phase or halt the war.

Netanyahu seeks to extend the first phase of the prisoner exchange to secure the release of more Israeli captives without fulfilling military or humanitarian obligations outlined in the agreement, appeasing hardliners in his government.

Hamas, however, rejects this approach and insists that Israel abide by the ceasefire terms, urging mediators to push for immediate negotiations on the second phase, which includes a full Israeli withdrawal and an end to the war.

The ceasefire deal has been in place since January, pausing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, which has killed nearly 48,500 people, mostly women and children, and left the enclave in ruins.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.