Israel announced its readiness to cease fire to save 40 hostages 0
(Dan Tri) – Israeli leaders announced they are ready to cease fire with Hamas for 1 week to save about 40 hostages, including women and men over 60 years old, who have physical or mental problems.
Hamas forces hand over hostages to International Committee of the Red Cross staff (Photo: Al Qahera).
In the latest statement on December 19, Israeli President Isaac Herzog informed ambassadors around the world that the country is willing to agree to a second humanitarian ceasefire in exchange for the return of more hostages.
`I can reiterate the fact that Israel is ready for a second humanitarian ceasefire and additional humanitarian aid to be able to release the hostages,` President Herzog said.
He further emphasized that `the current responsibility lies entirely with Yahya Sinwar (the top leader of Hamas)`.
According to news site Axios, a proposal from Israel was delivered to Hamas through the intermediary country of Qatar.
In a statement on Telegram, Hamas announced its refusal to negotiate a prisoner exchange while Israel is still attacking Gaza.
The latest statement by President Herzog and Hamas forces came amid reports that the US and other countries are trying to restart negotiations after a short pause at the end of last month.
In particular, Israel is facing a lot of pressure from the US, a key ally, to do more to limit civilian casualties, while France, Germany and the UK all called for a ceasefire over the weekend.
The first one-week ceasefire ended on December 1.
According to sources, Hamas is still holding about 129 of the original 240 hostages it captured in the October 7 attack.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported that Director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) William Burns went to Warsaw (Poland) this week to meet with his Israeli counterpart and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani to discuss.
Many other sources said that Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who is in Qatar, is said to lead this force’s delegation to Egypt on December 20 and meet with Cairo officials to discuss `an agreement to release prisoners and
