A diplomatic source said on Thursday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is insistent on finalizing all the details of the hostage deal before bringing it to the vote of the Security Cabinet and the Cabinet.
“Netanyahu strongly refused Hamas’s demand to change the deployment of troops in on the Philadelphi Corridor and thus he is standing firmly against Hamas’s other demands today, which deviate from the understandings that were reached during the negotiations. It seems that this insistence bears fruit, but until the matters are completely finalized, Prime Minister Netanyahu will not convene the Cabinet and government.’
Earlier in the evening, Shas Party Chairman Aryeh Deri announced that Israel and Hamas have overcome the obstacles on the path to implementing the hostage deal.
“A few minutes ago I received a final message that they overcame all the obstacles and the deal is underway. Now they are dealing with the final technical wording. I want to congratulate Prime Minister Netanyahu, he’s responsible for the deal,” Deri stated.
News is coming out minute by minute on the fate of this “deal.” Right now we can only be certain that Netanyahu will decide when to bring it for a vote. We can also hope that in addition to freeing hostages, Israel is getting a sizable benefit from this deal – most likely from the incoming US administration. Mike Waltz, Trump’s incoming National Security Advisor has stated that following the release of terrorists, if Israel needs to “go in again to eliminate Hamas we are with them.”