As the Israeli government and Hamas prepare to implement several rapid steps to exchange prisoners, with bodies to be handed over on Thursday and prisoners to be exchanged on Saturday, amid the United States’ efforts to hold second-stage negotiations, the families of the Israeli detainees expressed their deep concern over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to dismiss Mossad chief David Barnea from leading the negotiating team and appoint Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer in his place.

Dron Streiber, a recently released captive, said that what is needed now is increased efforts to release the kidnapped. Dermer is loyal to the state and to the kidnapped, but he is even more loyal to Prime Minister Netanyahu. If interests clash, he will side with Netanyahu against everyone else. Therefore, the change in the composition of the negotiating delegation raises suspicions about the real intentions.

On the other hand, an Israeli political official warned that Netanyahu’s decision to dismiss Mossad chief Barnea and Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar from the negotiating delegation with Hamas over a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement, and to appoint Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer as head of the delegation, is “politicizing the negotiations,” meaning serving Netanyahu’s domestic political interests, and that this could “obstruct the release of the kidnapped soldiers.”

"Dermer is a politician who enjoys Netanyahu's trust and carries out his instructions," the political official said, according to Haaretz on Wednesday. "Netanyahu repeatedly thwarted contacts over the deal last year and declared in an interview that he was not interested in a second stage. If he wanted to thwart the deal now, Dermer would be the one to do it without leaks to the media."

Netanyahu rejected this accusation, saying that he chose Dermer “because he wants a real negotiator who gives and takes, not gives and sneezes”... which is considered a dangerous incitement against the head of the Mossad.

Netanyahu added that Dermer will head the negotiating delegation on the second stage, and he will be accompanied by other representatives from the Mossad and the Shin Bet, including the former deputy head of the Shin Bet who has begun participating in the contacts on the second stage.

A person close to Netanyahu said that the decision to appoint Dermer, who is “the person responsible for the Trump file,” was made following “the US administration’s decision to withdraw the reins of managing the negotiations from Qatar and from CIA Director William Burns, and to appoint US President Donald Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, in his place. There is no offense here to the security chiefs.”

Israeli media considered Netanyahu's decision to exclude Barnea from heading the delegation as evidence of the tension in relations between them, which was expressed through criticisms directed by the Prime Minister during closed discussions about the performance of the negotiating team in recent months.

Netanyahu has also been hinting for some time that he intends to dismiss Bar from his position as head of the Shin Bet and exclude him from the circle of decision-makers regarding the ceasefire agreement and prisoner exchange.

The first phase of implementing the agreement is expected to end next week, but the fate of starting negotiations on the second phase, its results and its implementation remains unknown, due to major differences between the positions of Israel and Hamas and the conflicting interests of the two sides.

As Haaretz reported, Netanyahu fears the collapse of his government because of the cessation of the war, so it is in his interest to resume it. He is looking for a way to accuse Hamas of being responsible for the failure of the negotiations.

Hence the impossible Israeli demands, as it stipulates not only that Hamas not remain in power in the Gaza Strip and that it disarm, but also that its leadership go into exile, and even in this case it refuses to give guarantees that it will not assassinate them abroad.

As is well known, Hamas rejects this and demands that the second stage lead to a permanent ceasefire and a complete end to the war, the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the entire Strip, and the granting of guarantees to stop the assassinations.

A senior Israeli official announced on Wednesday that Israel will begin negotiations in the coming days on the second phase of negotiations on exchanging prisoners and ending the war on the Gaza Strip. He said that Tel Aviv agreed to bring in a “small quantity” of caravans and heavy equipment to Gaza, as part of the new exchange understandings in the first phase. He added that Israel will destroy these caravans if fighting resumes.

He stressed that "this will not in any way affect the implementation of Trump's plan for voluntary migration and the establishment of a different Gaza, a plan to which Netanyahu is fully committed."

The official said in statements made during a press briefing that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu “achieved an important accomplishment” in the prisoners’ issue and “succeeded once again in reducing the time frame for implementing the first phase of the agreement.” He said: “If the agreement is fully implemented, Israel will have completed the first phase of the agreement and ensured the return of all the hostages at this stage, an accomplishment that many did not expect.”

He added that Israel "will begin negotiations in the coming days on the second phase, which will be a political phase that will address the conditions for ending the war," noting that "Israel will present its security demands during these negotiations, which are based on the goals of the war that were determined by the Ministerial Council for Security and Political Affairs (the Cabinet)," referring to "returning the hostages and eliminating Hamas."

He warned that Israel "will return to fighting in Gaza in a more violent and deadly manner if Hamas continues to refuse to implement the agreement."

He added, "If Israel is forced to return to combat, it will do so with the full support of the Trump administration, with a renewed stockpile of weapons, prepared forces, and a completely different approach to combat."