Israeli Minister Rejects Prisoner Release in Potential Gaza Ceasefire Deal
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Israeli regime’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, expressed his firm opposition to releasing Palestinian prisoners as part of a potential Gaza ceasefire agreement with the resistance movement Hamas.
Smotrich described the release of Palestinian inmates as a “terrible and horrific event,” adding, “I will not agree to it, a red line must be drawn.”
He referenced the 2011 exchange of Hamas’s now leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. In October 2011, Hamas freed Shalit in exchange for Israel releasing 1,027 Palestinian prisoners, including Sinwar.
“We saw what happened in the deal for Gilad Shalit. We released Yahya Sinwar and we see what we got in return. With what logic will we release the next Yahya Sinwar and endanger thousands more Israelis?” Smotrich said.
Smotrich, leader of the far-right Religious Zionist Party, added, “I will oppose this even if it ends my political career.”
He also criticized Israel’s “security establishment,” claiming it is pursuing an “illegal deal at any cost.”
However, Hassan Barari, a professor of international relations at Qatar University, argues that despite Israel intensifying its deadly attacks throughout the Gaza Strip, Netanyahu will ultimately have to negotiate and agree to a ceasefire.
“He needs to reach a deal because he failed with the vast majority of (captives) still held in Gaza, and the only way to free them is to deal with Hamas,” Barari told Al Jazeera.
“The pressure on Netanyahu is mounting internally with demonstrations and the collapse of the war cabinet, so he needs to do something,” Barari added.
On Sunday, Hamas spokesman Jihad Taha stated, “There is no doubt that the horrific massacres will impact any efforts in the negotiations,” but added that “efforts and endeavors of the mediators remain ongoing.”
Meanwhile, three Palestinian human rights groups have blamed the international community for Israel’s deliberate massacres of civilians in Gaza.
“The international community’s failure to end the ongoing genocide” has enabled Israeli attacks, including the latest “horrific massacres” in the al-Mawasi area, which killed at least 90 people, and in the Shati refugee camp, where Israeli warplanes bombed Palestinians at prayer, killing 22 people, the rights groups said.
“International inaction continues to embolden Israel to perpetrate international crimes,” the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, Al-Haq, and the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights said in a joint statement.
“States arming and financing Israel’s genocidal acts are complicit in these crimes, including genocide,” they stated.
According to the health ministry, more than 38,664 Palestinians have been killed and 89,097 wounded in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 7.