Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on Monday with Adam Boehler, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s special envoy for hostage affairs, according to his office.
Boehler is visiting Israel this week amid ongoing negotiations to secure the release of the remaining Hamas captives in Gaza. He also discreetly met with Defense Minister Israel Katz, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana.
Trump said on Monday that he is working to secure the release of the hostages in Gaza, who number 100, according to the latest Israeli estimates. Thirty-six have been declared dead.
“We are trying to help very strongly in getting the hostages back,” Trump said during a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
During his administration’s final White House Chanukah celebration, outgoing President Joe Biden also pledged to continue efforts to release the captives.
“I’ve gotten over 100 hostages out. I will not stop until I get every single one of them home,” he said on Monday to cheers from the hundreds in the audience.
During last year’s Israel-Hamas ceasefire, which lasted from Nov. 24 to Nov. 30, 105 captives — 81 Israelis and 24 foreign nationals — were released.
Defense Minister Israel Katz told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday that “we are the closest to a hostage deal since the last one.”
He said during the session that Israeli troop deployments along the 8.7-mile Gaza-Egypt border buffer zone, known as the Philadelphi Corridor, and the 22-square-mile Netzarim Corridor that splits the middle of the Strip “are no longer an obstacle” because Hamas “has shown flexibility on these matters.”
During the committee meeting, Katz expressed his confidence that the deal would receive overwhelming approval from both the government and the cabinet.
“I have instructed the security establishment to place the release of hostages at the forefront of our priorities in the ongoing conflict, Katz said.
“This is the policy I advocate for, and I am actively working to advance it. With Hamas demonstrating a newfound willingness to compromise, we are hopeful that practical steps can be taken soon. As I have said before, this is a moral obligation and the most important mission before us,” Katz continued.
A senior Palestinian official involved in the indirect negotiations told the BBC on Monday that talks were in a “decisive and final phase.”
An Israeli “working level” delegation is reportedly currently in the Qatari capital Doha to continue negotiations, with mediators working on establishing an inspection mechanism for Gazan civilians moving northward. Hamas had previously rejected this system.
Additionally, an Israeli government official said on Monday evening to Israel Hayom that there was “significant traction” gained on talks toward a hostage deal and a source familiar with the negotiations told the news outlet that talks to formulate a new ceasefire deal are expected to be completed by Chanukah, which this year begins on the evening of Dec. 25, with implementation to be spread over an extended period.
Israel Hayom also reported on progress made concerning the number of hostages to be released in the first stage, which would include adults over 50, the sick and individuals classified as “humanitarian cases” in exchange for a six-week ceasefire.
According to the Palestinian official, as part of the three-phase plan, civilians and female soldiers would be released in the first 45 days, with Israeli forces pulling out of city centers, the coastal road and the border with Egypt’s Sinai.
The official affirmed that there would be a mechanism for Gazans to return north.
A second stage would see the remaining hostages released and the troops withdrawn before the third stage ending the war.
Katz said on Tuesday that the Israel Defense Forces will continue to maintain security control in the Gaza Strip after the war with Hamas concludes.
“In response to various reports, my position regarding Gaza is clear. After we defeat Hamas’s military and governing power in Gaza, Israel will maintain security control in Gaza with full freedom of action, just as in Judea and Samaria,” tweeted Katz in Hebrew.
“We will not allow any terrorist group to organize against Israeli communities and citizens from Gaza. We will not allow a return to the reality that existed before Oct. 7,” he added.
The statement came after Israel’s Channel 12 News reported that Katz had told a senior American official in a closed-door meeting that “Israel does not want military control or civilian governance over the residents of the Gaza Strip.”
Katz also reportedly said that no decisions had been made regarding settlement in Gaza. He also was quoted as saying with regard to the Palestinian Authority that, “Israel is protecting the P.A. from Iran and Hamas. It [the P.A.]must be shifted to the moderate side.”
Meanwhile, families of the hostages gathered at Israel’s parliament to express their concern.
“It’s important for me to come every day to the Knesset to make the voice of my brother and the voice of all the hostages heard as they seat in the dark tunnels of Gaza and can’t talk,” Hadassah Lazar, the sister of captive Shlomo Mansour, told JNS on Monday. “I really hope and believe that there will be a Chanukah miracle on that date. We demand that all hostages be returned together in one deal without doing any selection that would free some and leave others there. Everyone is in a bad condition. Everyone is now a humanitarian case.”
Speaking of the possibility of celebrating Chanukah with her brother, Lazar said she doesn’t want to put the cart before the horse.
“We are waiting patiently, and the moment that Shomo and all the hostages are freed, we will be able to organize something spontaneous. I just know that the second he comes back, we will hug him and wrap him with love,” she said. “Shlomo, my love, my elder brother, hold on; keep your spirit up; don’t give up. We are hearing that a deal is taking shape. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump began the process and we are very grateful and we let him know how much. We all have hope that a great miracle will take place.”
Tikva Forum co-founder Tzvika Mor, whose 23-year-old son, Eitan, remains captive in Gaza, was also at the Knesset calling for a comprehensive agreement to release all the hostages.
“There are talks right now of a deal. We fear that deal could be partial, bringing home only a portion of the hostages. We know that the young men and the soldiers are at the bottom of the list,” Mor told JNS.
“We are not ready to accept a deal in stages as we believe it will bring death upon those who will be left there,” he continued. “I came here today to demand a deal that brings everyone home in one day. We will settle for less than that.”
Galit Fisch, the aunt of Sagui Dekel-Chen, who has been coming to the Knesset since January to demand a hostage deal, told JNS she believes there could be quiet progress.
“There aren’t too many rumors going around this time. On one hand, we don’t know anything. On the other, if the negotiations really are advancing, it’s good that there are no rumors coming out about the progress,” she said. “Eventually it will happen. The question is: Will it be too late for them?”
Fisch told JNS that she initially supported a deal that would bring hostages back in stages.
“We were very concerned about all the women there who have been raped and otherwise sexually abused,” she said. “And the concern was that they really could not stay one more day. We were concerned as we approached the nine-month period. We may have women who already had babies in Gaza. We couldn’t get anyone to do anything before May. Now, we are concerned about all of them.
“That the Biden administration couldn’t bring negotiations all the way to an agreement is a fact. They failed in that perspective from our point of view, but they really did their best. A new administration brings new hope. I hope they will succeed where the Biden administration didn’t.”
Hen Avidgori, the husband and father of former Hamas captives Sharon and Noam Avigdori, released more than a year ago, told JNS that he is continuing to fight for the release of all hostages.
“When I was fighting for the lives of my family, I fought side by side with every other member of the hostage families. We are brothers. I cannot escape the fight only because I have my family back,” he said. “I believe the struggle to bring all 100 hostages home is not a personal struggle. We are fighting for the nature of our future country.
“We entered this war broken, separated, and Israeli society is not in good shape. Everybody thinks there should be a rebirth like a phoenix that rises from its ashes, but we cannot do it without first bringing all ashes back together. We cannot do anything to repair our ill society without getting everybody home.”
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