Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu clarified on Wednesday what he called Israel’s ‘red lines’ in a meeting with US Special Envoy for the Middle East, Brett McGurk, regarding a Gaza cease-fire and a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas.
“As for the negotiations, the Prime Minister said that he remains committed to the agreement while ensuring that Israel’s red lines remain intact,” a statement from Netanyahu’s office revealed.
It said the two sides discussed so-called “regional matters,” though no specifics were given.
On Sunday, Netanyahu who said he was in favour of the swap but only under strictly limited conditions, listed four ‘red lines’ for any swap deal with Hamas. He said that in any deal no weapons should be allowed to be brought into Gaza from Egypt, none of the thousands of gunmen should be allowed to be sent back to North Gaza and more live hostages should be freed from Hamas.
Such conditions are considered to have been raised by the critics including the opposition leader, Yair Lapid as likely to cause hitches in the negotiation process.
Netanyahu made this statement amid a high-level Israeli delegation traveling to Doha to attend a four-party meeting, including Qatari, Egyptian, and American parties.
The meeting will function as an indirect negotiation between Israel and Hamas to achieve the release of the kidnapped soldiers and a ceasefire in Gaza.
After months of negotiations, negotiations remain in stalemate as Israelis remain firm, with support coming from their American counterparts. This has made it difficult to find a middle ground due to Netanyahu’s failure to fully accede to Hamas demands for a complete cessation of hostilities.
Despite the United Nations Security Council’s call for an immediate stop to hostilities as the Palestinian group Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2013, Israel has continued the brutal crackdown on Gaza.
Since then, at least 38,297 Palestinians have been killed, mainly women and children, and over 88,209 others have been injured, as reported by the local health departments.
