A leading source in the Hamas movement told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the Israeli occupation government “is practicing a systematic process of misleading the Israeli street and the families of the prisoners held by the resistance, in order to evade the duty of liberating these prisoners.”

In an interview with Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, the source denied the validity of what was circulated by Hebrew media close to the occupation government, that “Hamas proposed releasing only 20 prisoners instead of 40 during the first phase of the agreement that was recently proposed during the Cairo round of negotiations,” saying: “This claim was followed by Hebrew press reports indicating that the remaining prisoners alive did not exceed twenty prisoners, which is contrary to reality.”

The source said, "It is not possible, of course, to accurately determine the number of living prisoners, but what is certain is that it is more than the numbers being circulated in the Hebrew media." He revealed that "the movement alone has about 30 generals and Shin Bet officers, who were captured on October 7, from military units and some highly sensitive military sites."

He stressed that "these people in particular are in highly secured places far from the hands of the occupation, and it is impossible to reach them under any circumstances," noting at the same time that the Prime Minister of the occupation government, Benjamin Netanyahu, "and some of his government ministers, are hiding a lot of information about the identities of some of the prisoners." The military personnel, in order to avoid provoking anger among the ranks of the combat forces, and that a large part of the angry position of the Israeli army representative in the negotiating delegations regarding the prisoners, Major General Netan Zan Alon, reserve, is due to the state of laxity that he perhaps senses on the part of Netanyahu regarding this issue. He stressed that "the only way to liberate the occupation's prisoners is through serious negotiations followed by a full commitment to a ceasefire and reconstruction."

While the exact number of Israeli prisoners remaining in Gaza is not known after the return of 112 prisoners, Netanyahu's office had announced the killing of 33 out of 129 allegedly still detained in the Strip. However, the number of military personnel among them is not specified, and it is a strategy adopted by the occupation to try to classify some of the soldiers or officers, retired or in the reserve, as civilians, in order to reduce the price of negotiating for them during the talks that were in place to exchange prisoners, while the presence of prisoners with more than one party in Gaza also makes it difficult to count them.

The leader of the movement revealed that “the occupation’s resumption of its military campaign in the north and center, after it had previously announced its annihilation of the resistance there, is due to its awareness of the incorrectness of what it previously claimed,” stressing that “the resistance is still fine, and is still controlling in a disciplined manner within integrated structures in operations field.

The source said that the leader of the Hamas movement in Gaza, Yahya Al-Sinwar, “is not isolated from reality there, despite the ongoing war and Israeli intelligence operations that do not stop throughout the day,” saying that “talk that Al-Sinwar is isolated in the tunnels is nothing but an allegation by He sided with Netanyahu and his agencies to cover up his failure to achieve the goals declared to the Israeli street and to his allies,” stressing that Sinwar “is carrying out his work as a leader of the movement in the field.”

The source said that Sinwar "recently inspected areas that witnessed clashes between the resistance and the occupation army, and met some of the movement's fighters on the ground and not in the tunnels." He added, "The deliberations that took place recently between the movement's leadership at home and abroad - without clarifying their nature - during which Sinwar informed the movement's leadership abroad about the situation of the resistance in the Gaza Strip, during which he confirmed, with accurate numbers and field reports, the strength and solidity of the resistance's position and its ability to confront the occupation forces."

On the other hand, the leader confirmed that the movement “deals seriously at all times with all proposals related to reaching a ceasefire agreement,” considering that “the American administration revealed its true face during the round of negotiations, by being an original party in the war on the Gaza Strip and not a mediator.” He said: "Since the end of that round, it has been furious after it failed through all pressure attempts to force the resistance to accept surrender terms in the interest of the occupation government and release the Israeli prisoners without real commitments that would end the suffering of the Palestinian people." The source denied that the movement was under pressure from the Egyptian and Qatari mediators, stressing that “the positions of Cairo and Doha were understanding of the resistance’s demands and conditions.”

In this context, the Palestinian writer and political analyst, Talal Okal, told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that “the negotiations seem to be heading towards a dead end,” adding that “the problem is not specific to the Arab mediators, and even if Turkey enters the line, because Netanyahu does not want to He stopped fighting, and does not care about his prisoners after all this time, and he is dragging the American administration behind him.”

In turn, Mukhaymar Abu Saada, professor of political science at Al-Azhar University in Gaza, said in an interview with Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed, “It is clear that the negotiations have reached a very difficult situation,” adding: “It is true that Hamas officials said that the negotiations have not reached a very difficult situation.” "It reached a dead end, but in light of Israel's refusal to deal with Hamas' conditions and three demands, which are a final ceasefire, complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and the return of the displaced to the northern Gaza Strip, and Hamas's adherence to these conditions, things have reached a difficult path." He stressed that "the problem is not the mediation, whether it is Egypt, Qatar, Turkey or others, but the problem is the occupation's attempt to impose a new reality on the Gaza Strip, which has to do with the continuation of the occupation in the Gaza Strip, the displacement of Palestinians and the failure to provide any political horizon for the Palestinian issue.

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said yesterday, Monday, that Hamas "changed its demands in the hostage negotiations." He added in a press conference, "The United States will continue to press to stop the fighting in Gaza and reach an agreement under which the hostages held by the movement after the October 7 attack will be released."

On the other hand, Hamas condemned the American statements that held the movement responsible for obstructing reaching a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, stressing that they were “statements that contradict the truth,” and that the movement “provided flexibility by facilitating reaching an agreement, but they were clashing with the intransigence and procrastination of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.” The movement said in a statement, "The statements have no relation to reality, and they contradict the fact that Hamas has provided flexibility more than once, to facilitate reaching an agreement that will stop the war of genocide and aggression against our people."

In contrast, sources who preferred not to be identified told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that “there are proposals at the present time related to preparations for the expected Israeli ground invasion of Rafah, including an American-Israeli proposal, which they said comes to deal with Egyptian fears of a confrontation operation.” Expected with the displaced once the Israeli operation begins.

The sources explained that the proposal “includes equipping security forces belonging to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, so that they are introduced into the Gaza Strip simultaneously with the start of the operation, and stationed along the border strip with Egypt, to serve as a buffer that prevents the Egyptian forces from being in a confrontation with the Gazans who are trying to flee towards Egyptian lands. It pointed out that "those forces, which will be subordinate to the head of intelligence in the Authority, Major General Majid Faraj, will receive Israeli protection and coordination, so that the Israeli forces will not target them at the time of the attack."

Source: Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed