Israel: No Progress On Ceasefire Deal With Hamas

ILLUSTRATION/Israel Defense Forces/PHOTO via Wikimedia Commons

JAKARTA - No progress has been made in indirect talks with Hamas over a ceasefire in Gaza or a prisoner swap deal, an Israeli official said.

Meanwhile, there were no breakthroughs in negotiations with Hamas, the Israeli public broadcasting agency KAN quoted an Israeli official without naming him as reported by ANTARA from Anadolu, Wednesday, January 24.

The official explained that the Hamas group did not want to compromise and continued to increase its demands. However, he said that negotiations were still ongoing.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday (22/1) spoke about Israel's initiative to guarantee the release of the hostages detained by Hamas, but gave no detailed information.

Previous Western media reports said Hamas had rejected Israel's offer to stop the two-month battle in exchange for the gradual release of hostages.

Hamas is said to have detained nearly 136 Israelis since the cross-border attack on October 7, 2023.

The humanitarian break agreement reached in November 2023 thanks to the mediation of Egypt, Qatar, and the United States managed to free 81 Israelis and 24 foreigners, exchanged for the release of 240 Palestinians from Israeli prisons.

However, the mediation attempt failed to guarantee the release of the remaining hostages as Hamas demanded that Israel's deadly attack on Gaza be ended.

Israel's deadly attack on the Gaza Strip has so far killed at least 25,700 Palestinians and injured 63,740 others. Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have died in the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.