Israeli defense minister calls for ‘not missing’ current opportunity to reach Gaza deal

By Zein Khalil

JERUSALEM (AA) – Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called Monday for not missing the current opportunity to reach a Gaza cease-fire deal that includes a prisoner swap with Hamas.

“The military pressure has created conditions that allow us to move forward with a deal, the military will know how to halt and how to return to combat as needed,” Gallant said during a meeting with families of hostages held in Gaza.

“We need to take advantage of the military pressure to push forward with a deal and not to miss it,” he added.

Gallant’s comments came one day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel will not accept a deal with Hamas unless it allows the Israeli army to return to fighting in Gaza.

Netanyahu's statement was widely seen as an attempt to sabotage any progress of indirect negotiations for a Gaza cease-fire.

CIA Director William Burns and head of Israel’s Shin Bet security service, Ronen Bar, arrived in Egypt on Monday for talks on a Gaza cease-fire and prisoner swap deal between Tel Aviv and Hamas.

For months, efforts by the US, Qatar, and Egypt to mediate an agreement between Israel and Hamas for a hostage exchange and cease-fire have been hampered by Netanyahu's rejection of Hamas' call to halt hostilities.

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.

Nearly 38,200 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 87,900 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Nine 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 Ahmed Asmar