Israeli wartime cabinet ministers are meeting today to discuss the draft cease-fire agreement in the Gaza Strip. This includes the release of hostages held by the radical Palestinian group "Hamas", as well as the possible ground operation of the Israeli army in the southern part of the enclave, reported Reuters and BTA.
The agency specifies that the meeting of the cabinet formed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the beginning of the conflict with "Hamas" on October 7 last year, should start at 18:30 local (and Bulgarian) time, after which the wider security cabinet is expected to meet. Reuters points out that Israel generally does not publish information about these meetings.
Netanyahu is waiting for a response from "Hamas" on the latest Israeli proposal for ceasefire terms presented by Egyptian negotiators in Cairo. The deal includes the release of some of the Hamas fighters captured during their Oct. 7 raid on Israeli territory that sparked the conflict, Reuters said.
The agency recalls that an obstacle to the negotiations so far has been the express condition of "Hamas" Israel to stop its hostilities and withdraw all its units from the Gaza Strip. Israel, for its part, wants to completely destroy the radical movement.
According to Netanyahu and his associates, the city of Rafah is the last bastion of "Hamas". Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said during a visit to Israel yesterday that the US could not support an Israeli operation in Rafah without a humanitarian plan to protect Palestinian civilians, noting that he had not yet seen such a plan.