Israel 'never been closer' to reach prisoner swap deal with Hamas: Ex-minister

By Abdelraouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) - Israel has never been closer to finalizing a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas for months, former War Cabinet Minister Gadi Eizenkot said Thursday.

However, he expressed doubts that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would accept the potential agreement.

Eizenkot, a Knesset member from the opposition National Unity Party, told the Walla news agency that negotiations with Hamas are at their closest point in the past nine months.

His comments followed a report from CNN on Thursday citing an unnamed Israeli source familiar with the negotiations that Israel and Hamas “appear to be on the brink of a framework agreement for a cease-fire and hostage release deal.”

Opposition figures and families of hostages in Gaza have intensified their calls for early elections and a prisoner exchange agreement with Palestinian factions, alongside a cease-fire in Gaza.

"The price of a deal will be high, but Israel can afford to halt the war for several months” if reached, Eizenkot said.

Expressing his doubt about Netanyahu’s strategic leadership, he said “I find it difficult to see Netanyahu accepting a deal and telling [Finance Minister Bezalel] Smotrich and [National Security Minister Itamar] Ben- Gvir that this is the right thing.”

Smotrich and Ben-Gvir oppose an agreement that includes the release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Israeli captives and a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.

They have also called for occupying the enclave, establishing Jewish settlements, and displacing the residents amid threats to topple Netanyahu's government if he agrees to a deal ending the Gaza war.

Netanyahu “has a strategic dilemma in front of him: the return of hostages versus the survival of a government," Eizenkot said.

He argued that Netanyahu “is bound by personal and political needs that overpower his capacity to save the State of Israel.”

“He does not have these leadership abilities, that’s why he needs to be replaced,” he added.

Israel’s public broadcaster KAN reported Thursday that the Israeli Cabinet was set to meet Thursday evening to review Hamas' response to a Gaza cease-fire proposal that also includes a prisoner swap deal.

Mediators have delivered a response from Hamas to a proposal that would include the release of hostages held in Gaza and a cease-fire in the territory.

Hamas also confirmed late Wednesday that its leader Ismail Haniyeh held talks with Qatari, Egyptian, and Turkish officials to review developments regarding a cease-fire deal in Gaza.

The group stressed that it has "engaged positively" with the cease-fire developments.

Egypt, Qatar, and the US have been trying for months to secure a truce and the release of 120 remaining hostages in Gaza, but to no avail.

Hamas says any deal must end the war and bring a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Israel, however, argues it will accept only temporary pauses in the fighting and wants to end the governance capabilities of the resistance group.

Last month, US President Joe Biden announced an Israeli truce plan, which includes the gradual release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza and the pullback of Israeli forces. It also envisages the freeing of Palestinian prisoners and the reconstruction of Gaza.

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas.

More than 38,000 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 87,400 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Over eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio