Netanyahu discusses release of hostages with Trump as Israeli officials say deal could be clinched in days

Tel Aviv: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that he discussed with US President-elect Donald Trump ongoing efforts to bring back the hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza, as Israeli officials indicated that a deal could be reached in less than two weeks despite sticking points in negotiations.

The Prime Minister said he and Trump spoke “at length about the efforts we are making to free our hostages,” but declined to go into specifics, The Times of Israel reported.

“We are working all the time, without rest, to bring our hostages home, the living and the fallen together,” he said, but added, “the less we talk about it, the better — that way, with God’s help, we will succeed.”

An unnamed Israeli official told the Israel Hayom daily on Sunday that a ceasefire-hostage deal will likely be completed by Hanukkah, which begins this year on the evening of December 25.

For now, however, talks are hung up over the number of hostages to be released in a partial deal, according to Channel 13.

Hamas insists on releasing far fewer than Israel demands, and Israel is not willing to budge, the report said.

Channel 12 news reported Sunday evening that during the Netanyahu-Trump conversation, the Prime Minister told the President-elect that the US must pressure negotiators to agree to a much higher number of hostages being released and that Hamas is currently offering “an unacceptable number” to be freed within the “humanitarian” category.

On Sunday night, Netanyahu convened the national security cabinet in the IDF Central Command headquarters in Jerusalem, The Times of Israel reported.

IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara joined the meeting as well.

There, the heads of the Mossad and Shin Bet security services told ministers that there is a new willingness among Hamas to reach a deal, according to Ynet, which cited a senior Israeli official.

“The estimation is that we will be able to reach an agreement within weeks,” the official said.

Ministers also discussed the security situation in the West Bank, the site also reported, where recent clashes between Palestinian Authority security forces and local terror groups have added to already soaring violence, which Israeli officials are concerned could spill over into Israel proper.

Meanwhile, Trump’s pick for US special envoy on hostage affairs, Adam Boehler, will quietly visit Israel this week, according to a Ynet report. Though he is coming as a private citizen, he is expected to meet with Israeli officials about the Gaza hostages, the news site said.

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Hamas had given in to an Israeli demand that the IDF remain in Gaza temporarily under a potential ceasefire-hostage deal after having previously refused to release any more hostages unless Israel agrees to a full withdrawal from the enclave and an end to the war, which the government has refused.

Israel believes that 96 of the 251 hostages kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on October 7 remain in the Strip, a figure which includes the bodies of at least 34 captives confirmed dead by the IDF.

In a video message released Sunday, Netanyahu said that his conversation with Trump was “very friendly, very warm and very important,” and centered on the need to “complete Israel’s victory” — a week after the sudden fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria and several weeks into a ceasefire between Israel and the Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon.

Netanyahu also said Israel is “changing the Middle East,” saying he vowed a year ago that the country would do so in its military campaign, and it has.

“Syria is not the same Syria, Lebanon is not the same Lebanon, Gaza is not the same Gaza, and the leader of the axis — Iran — is not the same Iran,” the premier said.

“We are committed to preventing Hezbollah from rearming,” Netanyahu said.

“This is an ongoing test for Israel, we must meet it — and we will meet it. I say to Hezbollah and Iran in no uncertain terms — to prevent you from harming us, we will continue to act against you as much as necessary, in every arena and at all times.”

Israel and Hezbollah entered a shaky ceasefire last month that has broadly held, following more than a year of daily rocket and drone attacks against Israel by the Iranian-backed, Lebanese terror group. Israel has struck several Hezbollah operatives and sites, however, in response to alleged violations of the ceasefire, according to which Hezbollah will not operate in southern Lebanon at all.

Waves of Israeli airstrikes this week also destroyed an estimated 80 per cent of the fallen Assad regime’s military assets in Syria, amid concern that the dictator’s weapons could fall into hostile hands amid the country’s chaotic takeover by jihadist-led rebel forces.

In his video, Netanyahu reiterated that the strikes in Syria were carried out to ensure that the weapons would not be used against Israel in the future. Israel also hit arms supply routes to Hezbollah, he said, and cited a statement by the terror group’s chief, Naim Qassem, that “Hezbollah has lost the military supply route through Syria at this stage”.

“We have no interest in a conflict with Syria,” Netanyahu underscored.

“We will determine Israel’s policy toward Syria according to the emerging reality on the ground,” he said, noting that the regional reality right now is “dynamic — it changes quickly”.

IANS