At a time when the Israeli occupation state and its military council (the war cabinet) are trying to accuse the Hamas movement and its leader in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Sinwar, of delaying a prisoner exchange deal, Israeli reports and analyzes indicate that the interest of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is one of the most prominent factors hindering the deal.

In this context, Israeli journalist Reviv Drucker, in an article published in the newspaper “Haaretz” on Monday, quoted a senior Israeli minister in the mini-ministerial council for political and security affairs (the cabinet) as telling him, two days ago, that “Netanyahu is trying to prolong the war as much as possible.” and this is in his interest, and for this reason he said in press conferences that there is no offer for a deal for the kidnapped”.

In the writer's opinion, Netanyahu believes that he must subdue Hamas, regardless of the time the war requires, and he can claim, as he did in the press conference two days ago, that he is surprised by the preoccupation with political matters by some while fighting soldiers in Gaza.

The Israeli journalist believes that Netanyahu will not stop, even if US President Joe Biden asks him to do so, and is trying to promote that he alone is capable of confronting international pressure.

Drucker added that Netanyahu's interest coincides with the army's interest in the wake of the major failure on October 7, and that their partial salvation comes by dealing a fatal blow to the Hamas movement.

In this context, Defense Minister Yoav Galant used to say that he does not know “hours,” but only “goals,” which means, in the writer’s opinion, that he does not care about the economy, relations with Egypt, Jordan, and the United States, and the normalization agreements (Abraham), and that he cannot end the war before Subjugating Hamas, and therefore this convergence of interests between Netanyahu and Gallant may prolong the war for many months.

Drucker continued, "The truth must be told: Netanyahu and Gallant are paying a lip service to the families of the kidnapped. They say all the right words, 'High priority... I imagine he is my son,' but in their behavior they leave the kidnapped behind."

The writer criticized the Israeli media, saying that Netanyahu takes advantage of the media’s failure to broadcast Hamas’ reports on the status of the negotiations, does not broadcast videos of detainees, and does not examine Hamas’ claims that the Israeli bombing in Gaza injured a number of detainees, which allows Netanyahu space to claim that he is doing everything in his power to release detainees.

In the writer's opinion, Netanyahu may think that a temporary ceasefire might increase political pressure on him to stop permanently or resign.

For his part, Yossi Yeshua, the security and military affairs correspondent for the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, wrote today that the “Cabinet” was informed of progress, which would, according to statements from the political echelon, “release all the mothers and children who are in captivity by Hamas, and in return, Israel will release” a symbolic number of (Palestinian) female prisoners and minors in its prisons, in addition to a ceasefire for several days.”

The writer stated that the Israeli army made clear that it could continue its war on Gaza after that.

The writer raised a question as to whether Israeli army would actually be able to continue the war with the same force, and whether it would be better to pressure Sinwar to free more detainees.

The writer considered that the deal in its current form poses a threat to the possibility of changing the reality in Gaza.

In turn, Amos Harel, a military analyst in the Haaretz newspaper, wrote today that there are those in Israel who believe that it should seize the opportunity of the deal, even if it will not lead to the release of all detainees in the first stage.

This position comes with the claim that “Sinwar is less rational than Hezbollah (he conducted several exchange deals with Israel) and may cut off contact, and may even cause the loss of contact with the kidnapped persons if the war escalates later. Therefore, there is an urgent need to free everyone who can be freed from captivity” " in the near future."

(Alaraby Aljadeed)