FALCON POWERS – Security sources said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has added demands to the ceasefire agreement and prisoner exchange that will complicate the negotiations or even frustrate them.
The network quoted well-informed sources on the talks as saying that Israel, in its response to the mediators on May 27, abandoned its initial demand to maintain control over the so-called Netsarim corridor, which currently divides the Gaza Strip into two parts and prevents the return of militants to the northern part of the Strip.
One of the sources said that “the demand to monitor everyone moving northward is a retreat from our concession on this issue. This demand will prevent reaching an agreement. At best, it is an obstacle that will make the continuation of the talks more difficult, and at worst, it will hinder the wheels of negotiations and eliminate the possibility of reaching an agreement,” adding: “We are in two critical days to make the deal succeed. Either now or after a very long time, and perhaps it will never happen.”
It was revealed that “Prime Minister Netanyahu has added demands that go beyond the agreements with the mediators.”
For his part, the leader of the Hamas movement, Ezzat Al-Rishq, said on Friday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s attempts to add new demands that were not included in all previous proposals circulated with the mediators (Egypt and Qatar) confirms that “he is still procrastinating and delaying and looking for what disrupts the prisoner exchange agreement.”
On Thursday, Netanyahu claimed that “Hamas is clinging to demands that endanger Israel’s security,” saying that any proposed deal that the current negotiations lead to “must allow Tel Aviv to return to fighting.”