Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel would resume negotiations for the release of hostages in Gaza and an end to the nearly two-year-old war, but only on terms acceptable to Israel.
His remarks were the first official response to a temporary ceasefire proposal brokered by Egypt and Qatar that Hamas accepted earlier this week. An Israeli official said negotiators would be dispatched once a venue is agreed.
Speaking to soldiers near the Gaza border, Netanyahu said the government was simultaneously preparing a major assault on Gaza City, the densely populated urban center that has become the focus of Israeli military planning. “At the same time, I have issued instructions to begin immediate negotiations for the release of all our hostages and an end to the war on terms acceptable to Israel. We are in the decision-making phase,” he said.
Israel believes about 50 hostages taken during Hamas’s October 2023 assault remain in Gaza, though officials say only around 20 are thought to be alive. The current ceasefire plan proposes a 60-day truce, the release of 10 living hostages and 18 bodies by Hamas, and the freeing of about 200 long-serving Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. Talks on a permanent ceasefire would follow.
Despite that, Israel’s security cabinet has approved a military plan to capture Gaza City, and on Wednesday the army called up 60,000 reservists. Military spokesman Avichay Adraee said hospitals and aid groups in Gaza’s north had been warned to prepare for evacuations, though Gaza health officials rejected the order, saying it would collapse the health system and put over a million residents at risk.
The Gaza health ministry reported at least 70 deaths in Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours, including eight people from one family killed in Gaza City’s Sabra suburb. Among them was a Fatah leader and former militant. Israel did not comment.
The ministry also said two more people, including a child, had died of starvation, bringing the total to 271 deaths from hunger since the war began, figures Israel disputes.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Palestinians rallied in Gaza City on Thursday in a rare public protest, carrying banners reading “Save Gaza, enough” and “Gaza is dying by killing, hunger and oppression.” Journalist Tawfik Abu Jarad said the protest was a plea for urgent international action to halt “daily massacres.”
Netanyahu faces pressure from far-right coalition partners to reject any truce and push ahead with military action, including the annexation of territory. For many Palestinians in Gaza City, however, the looming assault poses an impossible choice.
“We are facing a bitter situation, to die at home or leave and die somewhere else,” said Rabah Abu Elias, 67. “As long as this war continues, survival is uncertain.”
Written By Rodney Mbua
