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(Photo: IDF spokesperson, Yair Shagai, Dana Kopel, Ludovic Marin / AFP, Khalil Hamra / AP))
Others within the negotiation team maintain that Israel should not reject talks for a partial agreement which could ensure the release of around 10 living hostages, which will potentially save their lives. They warn against an “all or nothing” approach when lives are at stake.
This position is supported by the head of the National Security Council Tzachi Hanegbi, but goes against the message that the chief of Mossad, David Barnea, issued Prime Minister Qatari Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, on behalf of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu two days ago. Barnea would have told Qataris that a partial agreement was “outside the table”.
In public, Netanyahu has circumvented questions about a partial agreement at a press conference earlier this week.
Another opponent of a partial agreement is the Minister of Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer, who managed the negotiation team for almost six months. He suggested that the United States is working on a plan to end the war and expects a complete agreement that would see all the hostages released.
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Tzachi Hanegbi associates himself with those who support by giving a partial chance; Ron Dermer reports that the United States is working on a plan to end war
(Photo: Dana Kopel, Emil Salman))
In all cases, Israeli officials believe that if Hamas accepts partial talks, the decision will belong to the security firm. The Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, member of the cabinet, expressed his concern last week after a dramatic vote of the cabinet that Netanyahu favors a partial agreement and works there.
Israeli officials evaluate that Hamas fell to accept Egypt’s proposal for a complete agreement, which includes the dismantling of the group’s military capacities and the commitment not to play a role in Gaza’s governance in the future. “Hamas has cold feet – and suddenly, they talk about a partial agreement,” a source from Jerusalem said on Friday. “We have already seen this film.”
Families maintain pressure outside Katz’s house
Friday afternoon, former hostages and relatives of those who are still organized in Gaza met for the second consecutive week outside the home of the Minister of Defense Israel Katz in Kfar Ahim for a “Welcome shabbat” ceremony. Among them, the ancient hostages Sasha Troponov and Yair Horn, marking six months since their release, as well as the survivor Yaffa Adar and other families.
The group made speeches and made Kiddush around a Shabbat table displaying photos of the 50 hostages – and a woman hostage – who has been owned for 679 days.
“I came here to show my brothers’ support,” said Troponov. “Right now, they are enough underground. My friends are still there – people who no longer remember what it is to get out and breathe fresh air, instead of wet air and stuns tunnels. People who no longer know freedom, who would give anything to be here today.”
Speaking directly to Katz directly, he said: “You refused them at 679 days. You are back.
