The official Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reported, on Monday evening, that Israel had given the green light to a prisoner exchange deal with the Islamic Resistance Movement “Hamas,” indicating that Tel Aviv was now awaiting the movement’s response.

The revelation of these developments comes shortly after the Israeli War Council met to discuss a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas, while the families of prisoners and detainees gathered in front of the meeting hall in Tel Aviv, and many of them were not allowed to enter the hall due to its narrowness.

The revelation of the Israeli green light on a prisoner exchange deal also coincides with US President Joe Biden’s expression, on Monday evening, of his belief that reaching an agreement to secure the release of prisoners and detainees held by Hamas in Gaza is imminent.

On the sidelines of a ceremony held at the White House, a journalist asked Biden: “Is there an imminent agreement to release the hostages?” The US President replied: “I think so.”

Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani confirmed during a joint press conference with European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell yesterday, Sunday, that the deal for prisoners and detainees “is going through difficulties, but we are more confident that we are close to the return of people to their homes.” .

The Qatari Prime Minister, whose country is making major efforts to reach an exchange deal, added that "the negotiations have a long path, and we are getting close to the goal, and the outstanding points are logistical and not fundamental."

For its part, Maariv newspaper previously quoted sources familiar with the discussions as saying that the Hamas movement had agreed “in principle” to increase the number of Israeli detainees that the movement intends to release to more than 50 women and children, in exchange for a five-day ceasefire period. .

This comes as disagreements worsen within the Israeli government regarding the status of the file of detainees and prisoners in the war that Israel has been waging since the 7th of last October in the Gaza Strip, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Galant tend to give priority to “eliminating the Hamas movement.” In the war, while the head of the “official camp,” Minister Benny Gantz, believes that the priority should be the prisoners’ file.

Regarding the delay in completing the deal that has been talked about for days, Channel 13 commentator Rafif Druker said in an article published by Haaretz newspaper today, Monday, that “Netanyahu is trying to prolong the war for as long as possible to serve his political interests, and this is the reason behind “Leaks from his close associates indicate that the prisoner exchange deal has not been completed yet.”

Drucker stressed that Netanyahu is interested in continuing the war under the slogan of "working to collapse the Hamas movement, no matter how long it takes to prolong the fighting" in the Gaza Strip.

(AFP, Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed)