Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that an agreement had been reached to return prisoners held in the Gaza Strip. Earlier, his office had said that there were some minor complications in finalizing the ceasefire, which would delay the 15-month-long war. According to the Associated Press report, Netanyahu said he would hold a meeting of his security cabinet on Friday and after that the government would be in favor of the long-awaited agreement. “Israel is committed to fulfilling all the objectives of the war, including the return of all our prisoners – both alive and dead – to Israel,” the Prime Minister’s Office statement said. Israel and Hamas have been embroiled in a brutal war since October 7, 2023, when Gaza activists entered Israel and killed more than 1,200 civilians and took hundreds of people captive. Since then, Israeli attacks have killed more than 46,000 Palestinians. Many human rights organizations have accused Israel of wrongdoing in the war, but Netanyahu’s government denies the charge.
Netanyahu’s clarification cleared the way for the Israeli government to approve the deal, which would see fighting in the Gaza Strip halted and a handful of prisoners held by activists in Gaza released in exchange for Palestinian detainees held by Israel. This would allow hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians to return to their homes in Gaza.
