Israeli Channel 12 quoted a senior Israeli official as saying that discussions regarding the exchange deal between the Palestinian resistance and Israel have reached a dead end.

It credited the Israeli official with saying that Israel had no choice but to continue military pressure to release detainees in the Gaza Strip.

In a related context, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said that the only way to return Israeli detainees in Gaza is to stop the war.

Barak said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a failed prime minister and is causing strategic devastation for Israel, and called for his removal from power by all means.

This comes as the families of Israeli detainees held by the Palestinian resistance in Gaza continue to pressure to conclude a deal that guarantees the release of their relatives.

Public pressure

Yesterday, Saturday, thousands of Israelis demonstrated in the cities of Tel Aviv and Caesarea to demand a prisoner exchange deal with the Palestinian resistance. The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said that the protest demonstrations in Tel Aviv today are the largest in Israel since October 7.

The newspaper explained that thousands of Israelis demonstrated in “Kidnapped Square” in downtown Tel Aviv, demanding the conclusion of an immediate exchange deal and the overthrow of Netanyahu’s government through early elections.

The families of the Israeli prisoners detained in Gaza said - during a press conference held yesterday, Saturday, in front of the Ministry of Defense headquarters in Tel Aviv - that the exchange deal cannot be concluded without overthrowing the government of Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israeli Channel 13 reported from the families of the prisoners that their children are dying in captivity, because Netanyahu does not want an exchange deal because he realizes that their return means his departure from the government.

The families of the prisoners detained in Gaza organize a weekly press conference in front of the Ministry of Defense headquarters in Tel Aviv, in which they call for the conclusion of an urgent exchange deal and the overthrow of the Netanyahu government.

Source: Al Jazeera