Israel seeks truce with Hamas to get ready for Iran

Director of the International Consultations Centre in Haifa, Wadi Abu-Nassar said yesterday that Israel is seeking a truce with Hamas in order to get ready for confrontation with Iran, Quds Net News reported.

Israeli security cabinet yesterday held a secret meeting, with local media reporting that cabinet members likely agreed to sign a truce with the Palestinian resistance in Gaza.

Before the conclusion of the meeting, Abu-Nassar expected that Israel is likely heading for a “comprehensive truce” with Hamas in order to prevent a potential escalation in Gaza at a time when Israel is working to deal with Iran’s presence in Syria.

“Reaching a truce in Gaza leads to achieving this end,” Nassar said. He noted that many indicators usher in reaching a truce very soon, citing the cancelation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Colombia as one of the indicators.

Media: Hamas negotiating truce terms with Israel

Other indicators include the repeated visits UN envoy to the Middle East Peace Process Nicolay Mladenov has made to the besieged Gaza Strip and the location of the Israeli Cabinet meeting in a fortified place to prevent leaks.

Regarding a possible prisoner swap, he said that the Israeli elections, which might take place in March 2019, could undermine the efforts to reach a prisoner swap.

He expected that this might lead to relaunching Israeli-Palestinian peace talks or letting the Palestinian factions reach an internal reconciliation.

However, he said, there are Egyptian and UN efforts to reach a swap deal. In addition, many other sides involved in the Palestinian cause hope that a prisoner swap could lead to ending the current Palestinian crises.