The head of the political bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), Ismail Haniyeh, confirmed that the resistance will not accept anything less than a complete cessation of aggression, the occupation’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the lifting of the siege, and the provision of shelter for the displaced.

Haniyeh added that the movement deals with the ongoing negotiations in a positive spirit and with high responsibility and will not neglect the sacrifices of the Palestinian people and the achievements of their resistance, holding the Israeli occupation responsible for maneuvering and procrastination in the issue of truce negotiations and prisoner exchange.

He continued by saying that achieving a prisoner exchange deal through which our prisoners, especially the old ones and those with high sentences, would be released is one of the goals of the negotiations and this cannot be skipped.

Haniyeh explained that Hamas responded with high responsibility and positivity to the mediators in order to stop the aggression against the Palestinians and end the siege.

In a parallel context, the Israeli Channel 13 website said that an Israeli delegation is expected to leave next week for Qatar, with the aim of discussing reaching a new prisoner exchange deal with Hamas.

According to the same source, it is expected that the delegation will be given a specific mandate to formulate a response to Hamas’ demands before the mediators, according to the circumstances that will arise in the negotiations.

Regarding the issue of disagreement between members of the War Cabinet, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation revealed that great tension prevailed in the ministerial meeting that was held two days ago.

Members of the war government, Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot, threatened Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to dissolve the war government if he continued to make unilateral decisions regarding detainee negotiations.

The Israeli Broadcasting Authority said that Defense Minister Yoav Galant also expressed his dissatisfaction with Netanyahu's decision not to send the negotiating delegation to Cairo.

Source: Al Jazeera