Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has expressed cautious hope for a deal to secure to release of more hostages held by the Islamist group Hamas, who have been held for more than a month after the brutal October attack.
“There could be (an agreement), but I think the less I say about it, the more I increase the chances it materialises,” Netanyahu said in an interview with US broadcaster NBC on Sunday.
If a deal is reached, it will only be the result of military pressure, Netanyahu said, adding: “That’s the one thing that might create a deal.”
Netanyahu argued it was also only the Israeli military’s ground offensive in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip that had created any movement in negotiations.
“If a deal is available, well, we’ll talk about it when it’s there. We’ll announce it if it’s achieved,” he went on.
NBC and other US media outlets reported, citing government sources, that there were discussions that Hamas could release around 80 women and children in return for Palestinian women and teenagers detained in Israel.
There was no official confirmation of this. Netanyahu also did not go into any details of a potential deal.
US President Joe Biden’s National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, told ABC that negotiations were underway, with Qatar involved and the US government actively engaged.
“There are efforts to secure a deal that would involve the release of hostages,” Sullivan said, adding that Biden would not rest until such an agreement was reached.
“I have to be careful about what I say publicly about this because it is of course a delicate and sensitive negotiation,” Sullivan said.
Hamas is still holding 239 hostages, according to Israel.
The statements came as heavy fighting continues in Gaza, with violence near the strip’s main hospital escalating fears about the fate of staff and patients as fast-depleting fuel supplies widen the humanitarian crisis among Palestinian civilians.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) say Hamas has an underground control centre near al-Shifa and is using the hospital as a shield.
Many fear the building could soon be the target of a major attack.
Some 10,000 people are still in the hospital, witnesses say, including some too injured to be moved.
Gaza as a whole has been under intense bombardment by Israel since the Hamas terrorist attacks on October 7, which left about 1,200 people in Israel dead. Israeli ground forces have now penetrated deep into Gaza.
The Israeli attacks since October 7 have killed over 11,000 people according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza.
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