Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs a Cabinet conference at the Kirya, which houses the Israeli Ministry of Defence, in Tel Aviv, Israel on December 17,2023 Â
Menahem Kahanna|Reuters
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday tempered expectations about the timeline of a prospective captive handle Hamas, while the White House revealed expect an arrangement to take shape in the coming days.
“Hamas started out with just crazy demands. It’s too soon to say if they’ve abandoned them,” Netanyahu stated on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
“But if they do abandon them and get into what you call the ballpark — they’re not even in the city. They’re on another planet — but if they come down to a reasonable situation, then yes, we’ll have our hostages.”
During a Friday conference in Paris, mediators from Israel, Egypt, Qatar and the U.S. gained ground on the structure of a brand-new captive offer that would launch lots of Hamas’ captives in exchange for numerous hundred Palestinian detainees held by Israel and a momentary cease-fire.
Progress on the brand-new offer provided the White House restored hope that a last arrangement might become quickly as today.
“It is still under negotiation in terms of hammering out the details of it,” National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan stated on CNN’s “State of the Union,” including that Qatar and Egypt still need to go over the proposition with Hamas.
“We hope that in the coming days, we can drive to a point where there is actually a firm and final agreement on this issue.”
In the meantime, the Israel Defense Forces are strengthening information to leave civilians and introduce an attack in Rafah, a southern city where over half of Gaza’s population has actually taken haven. Netanyahu stated that he has actually a conference set up for Sunday to evaluate the IDF’s Rafah strategy.
Netanyahu stated that while he hopes the captive offer can concern fulfillment, Israel is preparing military operations in case the arrangement fails. He stated that the captive offer, and the accompanying momentary ceasefire, would postpone the Rafah attack.
“If we have a deal, it will be delayed somewhat, but it will happen,” Netanyahu stated. “If we don’t have a deal, we’ll do it anyway. It has to be done, because total victory is our goal.”
