Israeli Chief of Staff: No Agreement with Hamas, Prepare for Battle

An Israeli official revealed yesterday, Friday, that reaching a comprehensive agreement with Hamas in the Gaza Strip will take a long time unless the United States and Israel succeed in reviving negotiations for a temporary agreement aimed at releasing hostages and stopping the fighting.

He confirmed that talks are currently stalled and have faced a deadlock since Israel and the United States withdrew their delegations from Doha, according to what was reported by the "Times of Israel".

The proposed agreement currently includes the release of 28 hostages out of 50 during a temporary ceasefire lasting two months.

During this period, negotiations are expected to be completed to reach a final agreement for a permanent ceasefire, followed by the release of the remaining hostages.

In return, the newspaper "Haaretz" reported from an informed source that the Israeli government has not yet made a decision regarding the "occupation of Gaza" or about the combat strategy if the negotiation track fails.

The source indicated that there are serious doubts about the possibility of resuming negotiations at this time.

In a field statement, Israeli Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir said that in the coming days it will become clear whether there is hope for reaching a partial agreement with Hamas for the release of the hostages.

He added: "If we do not succeed in that, we will continue to fight relentlessly".

This comes after the failure of the last round of indirect negotiations, which aimed to achieve a 60-day ceasefire and finalize a prisoner exchange deal.