Defiant Israeli officials said Friday they will agree to a “very limited and short” cease-fire if Hamas releases a “massive” number of hostages.
Israeli National Security Council Chairman Tzachi Hanegbi warned that the freeing of a substantial number of the roughly 240 people still being held cannot be a “manipulative release” or exploited for public relations, according to the Times of Israel.
“Only then will we agree to a cease-fire, and it will be very limited and short because afterward, we will continue advancing toward our goals for the war,” the chairman said at a press conference Friday.
Hanegbi said Israel’s war cabinet has agreed on the strategy to get some of the hostages released and that there will be “no compromises.”
He believes that Hamas will only agree to the proposal if it is under pressure to do so, according to the Times of Israel.
“We’re in the 42nd day of the war, and we have not agreed to order the [Israel Defense Forces] to halt its advancement even for one minute,” Hanegbi said.
Israeli National Security Council Chairman Tzachi Hanegbi said Friday that Israel is open to a cease-fire — but it would be short-lived, and only if the terrorist group releases a large number of captives. AFP via Getty Images
Hanegbi believes that Hamas will only agree to the proposal if it is under pressure to do so, according to the Times of Israel. AFP via Getty Images
The chairman says the cease-fire would be brief. via REUTERSHowever, Israel has agreed to a four-hour daily humanitarian pause in Northern Gaza to allow Palestinians to flee.
Two hostages’ bodies were found near al Shifa hospital in Gaza City, with the body of Judith Weiss discovered Wednesday and Israeli officials announcing Friday that they also had recovered the remains of Cpl. Noa Marciano in the same area.
Marciano had appeared in a Hamas video Monday in which she said she was being held in Gaza and pleaded for the Israeli military to stop bombarding the area. The video then cut to show her lifeless body.
