Israel’s War Cabinet set to meet to discuss possible swap deal with Hamas

Israel’s War Cabinet is set to convene Thursday evening to discuss a possible hostage swap deal with Hamas, according to local media, Anadolu Agency reports.

Israeli Channel 12 said the meeting is most likely to explore ways of reaching a deal to free Israelis held captive by the Palestinian group.

There was no comment from the Israeli government on the media report.

Thursday’s meeting will be the first to be held by the War Cabinet since Hamas rejected a proposed ceasefire deal with Israel earlier this week.

The Israeli government of Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is facing mounting pressure from the hostages’ families and the opposition to reach a swap deal with Hamas.

The Palestinian group, which is believed to be holding around 133 hostages, demands an end to Israel’s brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip in return for any hostage-prisoner swap deal with Tel Aviv.

Nearly 34,000 Palestinians have been killed and 76,800 others injured in the Israeli onslaught since 7 October, 2023, amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities. Israel says nearly 1,200 people have been killed in the 7 October Hamas attack.

However, since then, it has been revealed by Haaretz that helicopters and tanks of the Israeli army had, in fact, killed many of the 1,139 soldiers and civilians claimed by Israel to have been killed by the Palestinian Resistance.

A previous deal in November saw the release of 81 Israelis and 24 foreigners in exchange for 240 Palestinians, including 71 women and 169 children.

The Israeli war has pushed 85 per cent of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60 per cent of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed.​​​​​​​

READ: Israel has arrested more than 5,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October