Truce possible, but Netanyahu ‘does not want to end war’: Ex-Israeli negotiator

A truce deal to end the Israeli regime’s months-long onslaught on the Gaza Strip and the exchange of prisoners can be reached with the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas but prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu “does not want to end the war,” according to a former Israeli negotiator.

Gershon Baskin said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that he had been asked by the families of Israeli captives in Gaza to negotiate with Hamas to pave the way for the return of captives kept in Gaza since October last year.

“About two weeks ago, the hostage families’ forum asked me to try to conduct a direct negotiation with Hamas on their behalf,” Baskin wrote.

“That’s what I did, and within two weeks I obtained agreement to a three-week deal - the release of all 107 Israeli hostages, the end of the war, an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and an agreed release of the names and number of Palestinian prisoners,” Baskin added.

“The entire Hamas leadership agrees to this outline, but our Netanyahu does not want to end the war,” he added. “This is the situation today.”

Hamas has on numerous occasions asserted that the release of Israeli prisoners hinges on a ceasefire agreement that can guarantee the regime’s ending of its merciless aggression on Gaza and withdrawal of the occupation forces from the area.

Under unknown circumstances, Baskin later retreated from his words and claimed that he was neither a spokesman for Hamas nor was he conducting negotiations on behalf of Israel.

“All I am asking for is that the Israeli official negotiators contact Egypt and Qatar and ask them to check if Hamas is ready to accept the deal they told me they would accept,” he said.

“The deal that has been on the table since May is a bad deal that will prolong the war and not bring the all of hostages home. The hostages must be returned in the shortest possible time because the military pressure is killing them.”

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In another post, Baskin went so far as to say, “One of the leaders of the Israeli negotiations said to me that Netanyahu does not want to end the war.”

Striking a scornful tone, Baskin verbally attacked Netanyahu for his delaying a truce deal with Hamas and ending the protracted war in Gaza, where tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed.

“Netanyahu lost his legitimacy on October 7. He continues to lose it every day that he insists on putting his personal political interests before the interests of [Israel]”, he said.

“The large majority of Israelis want a deal to return the 101 hostages who are still in Gaza. Every day that passes, the military pressure results in the killing of more of them. Israel can no longer tolerate your rule, Mr. Netanyahu - you are destroying us… We demand: Resign now! We don’t want you!”

Some 240 people were taken captive on October 7, 2023, during a historic operation staged against the occupied territories by Hamas-led resistance groups in retaliation for the regime’s intensified atrocities against Palestinians.

The regime responded with a genocidal war that has so far claimed the lives of nearly 40,700 Palestinians, mostly women and children.

A week-long truce deal agreed in November saw Hamas releasing 105 captives in return for some 240 Palestinians held illegally in Israeli jails.

On July 2, the group agreed to a proposal for another truce that had been forwarded by the United States.

The regime, however, rejected the plan and later came up with new conditions, including keeping its forces inside Gaza along the coastal sliver’s border with Egypt, blocking the prospects of an imminent deal.

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