Before leaving for Washington to meet US President Joe Biden the day after tomorrow, Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directed that the negotiating delegation for the deal be sent to Doha on Thursday.

The Israeli Prime Minister's Office said in a statement and Israeli media that Netanyahu held an in-depth discussion that lasted six hours with the negotiating team and security officials regarding the deal.

According to the statement, the Israeli Prime Minister is scheduled to head to the US capital tomorrow morning, Monday, after the trip was scheduled for Sunday evening, and he will deliver a speech in the US Congress next Wednesday.

Yedioth Ahronoth reported that Netanyahu will bring with him a delegation of families of prisoners held by the resistance and intends to present them with him in Congress during his speech.

According to the newspaper, the exchange deal and the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip will be a priority for the US administration, and it will try to exploit Netanyahu’s visit to Washington to pressure him to agree to the broad outlines of the deal as announced by Biden.

Netanyahu's visit to Washington comes as the US administration says that negotiations aimed at concluding a deal that includes a prisoner exchange between Israel and the Palestinian resistance, and a ceasefire in Gaza, have made significant progress.

Although the US administration has provided significant political and military support to Israel since the start of its war on Gaza on October 7, reports indicated tense relations between Biden and Netanyahu.

Criticism and preparation

For his part, Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz said that the war should not be stopped before the detainees are returned, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) is eliminated, and security is achieved in the settlements surrounding the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen revealed tangible progress towards concluding a deal, and that the next two weeks will be crucial regarding the deal.

Regarding the possibilities of escalation of the war, Cohen said that his ministry had provided a huge reserve of fuel in order to continue providing energy and in anticipation of every emergency, he said.

Threats from Likud

In a related context, Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper revealed that Knesset member from the Likud Party, Dan Illouz, said, "Netanyahu will go to a deal that brings prisoners and allows the fighting to continue."

Illouz pointed out the possibility of signing a deal to release the prisoners, pointing out that “there are red lines to the deal,” explaining that he believes “that Netanyahu will reach a deal that will return the prisoners to Israel and allow the fighting to continue. You can see in his behavior that he understands that not every deal is a deal.” "good".

He added, "It is important to say that there are 8 Knesset members in Likud who have clear positions. The government that leaves Hamas has no right to exist."

Likud Knesset member Amit Halevy told the Israeli newspaper Maariv that he was among 10 members of the party who signed a letter they sent to Netanyahu in which they informed him that they would withdraw from the coalition if the crystallized deal with Hamas did not include the return of the detainees all at once, or if the Israeli army withdrew from the Rafah crossing and the axis. Philadelphia as part of the deal.

In another development, Al Jazeera's correspondent said that the Association of Families of Prisoners Detained in Gaza is organizing a human chain within the Knesset to pressure to conclude an exchange deal.

Source: Al Jazeera