Today, Tuesday, Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir sharply criticized the prisoner exchange deal to be concluded with the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), considering that it would bring disaster to Tel Aviv.

“I am very upset because they are talking about a deal that could bring us disaster,” said Ben Gvir, leader of the far-right Jewish Power party.

He continued that rumors say that the State of Israel will once again make a very big mistake in the "Shalit deal" method, referring to the exchange deal with Hamas that took place in 2011, and included more than 1,200 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for soldier Gilad Shalit.

Ben Gvir added, "You remember that we released Shalit, and we released the leader of the Hamas movement in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, and his friends, and we brought this problem to ourselves."

The Israeli army says that there are 239 prisoners in Gaza since last October 7, while the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas movement, said that it and other Palestinian factions captured about 250 Israelis.

Ben Gvir continued that, unfortunately, Minister in the War Council Benny Gantz and “Minister Without Portfolio” Gadi Eisenkot are dragging the government into a bad area. It is noteworthy that Ben Gvir is not a member of the Israeli Military Ministerial Council.

Close deal

At dawn on Tuesday, the head of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, confirmed that reaching a truce agreement with Israel was imminent.

Haniyeh said in a statement, “The movement delivered its response to the brothers in Qatar and the mediators, and we are close to reaching a truce agreement,” without further details.

For his part, Hamas leader Izzat al-Rishq told Al Jazeera that the details of the agreement will be revealed in the coming hours, explaining that "the brothers in Qatar are the ones who will announce the details of the truce agreement."

On Sunday evening, Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani said that “the completion of the exchange deal between Israel and Hamas is imminent,” without mentioning a specific date.

Hamas is offering Tel Aviv to release a number of Israeli prisoners, including those with foreign nationalities, in exchange for a truce for several days, the entry of fuel and food into the Gaza Strip, and the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons.