MADRID Jan 15 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Israeli Foreign Minister, Gideon Saar, acknowledged this Wednesday that supporting the agreement with the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) will be a “difficult decision” but that the Israeli Government must take it to guarantee the release of the hostages in the custody of the Islamist group since October 7, 2023.
“I want to be very frank and honest with you. It is a very difficult decision (…) When it is decided to release so many terrorists, including murderers, who killed Jews – and it is not the only dimension of the agreement – it is not a easy decision,” said Minister Saar from Rome, where he was visiting.
Thus, the representative of Israeli diplomacy has stressed that, despite everything, approving the agreement with Hamas is a decision that “the Israeli cabinet will have to accept.” Saar has been forced to suspend his visit to Italy and urgently return to Israel to participate in tomorrow’s Executive vote.
Saar stressed that the Israeli authorities have done “everything possible” to facilitate the return to their homes of the majority of the hostages, but that nearly a hundred are still kidnapped by Hamas. “If we postpone the decision, we do not know how many of them will survive,” he added to justify this “hard and painful” decision to support the agreement.
The main negotiators of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas confirmed this Wednesday that the parties have reached an agreement for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip that will be developed in phases starting on Sunday and that will be accompanied by the release of 33 hostages held by the Islamist group in exchange for an undetermined number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Contacts had accelerated in recent days and key mediators such as the United States and Qatar had already confirmed a rapprochement. Israel’s Foreign Minister, Gideon Saar, announced shortly before the final announcement that he was shortening his tour of Europe to participate in the deliberations and votes of the Executive.
More than 46,700 people have died in Gaza as a result of the military offensive launched by Israeli forces after the attacks carried out by Hamas on October 7, 2023. Some 240 people were kidnapped in these attacks, of which nearly one hundred still remain in Gaza. the Strip.
Add Comment