Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Kobi Wolf/Bloomberg)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ruled out the freeing of thousands of prisoners or pulling troops out of Gaza as part of any hostage-exchange or cease-fire deal with Hamas.
“We will not withdraw the IDF from the Gaza Strip, and we will not release thousands of terrorists. None of this will happen,” Netanyahu said in a speech to young men at a pre-army preparatory program on Tuesday.
The prime minister reiterated that Israel won’t conclude its war against Hamas without achieving all of its goals: eliminating the Iran-backed group, securing the return of all remaining hostages and ensuring that Gaza will never again constitute a threat to Israel.
Netanyahu was responding to a report by Israel’s Channel 12, which said a prisoner-for-hostage exchange was discussed by officials from Qatar, Egypt, the U.S. and Israel over the weekend to try and secure a cease-fire to the near four-month war.
Hamas is still holding more than 100 people in Gaza who were taken during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel which triggered the conflict. About 110 were returned during a seven-day cease-fire that ended Dec. 1, a deal made in exchange for about three times as many Palestinian prisoners.
A Channel 12 reporter said in a post on Telegram on Monday that the cease-fire deal under discussion in Paris at the weekend was for the release of 100-250 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for each hostage. In the first stage, 35 hostages would be released over a period of 45 days.
Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh said on Telegram that the group, which is classified as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the European Union, is studying the Paris Summit proposal. Their priority is stopping the war and a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, he said.
