The Israeli Chief of Staff urges Netanyahu to seize the hostage deal

The Chief of Staff of the Israeli army, Eyal Zamir, sent a decisive message to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, confirming that the deal to free the hostages held in the Gaza Strip is ready and must be seized immediately.

Zamir explained that any move towards fully occupying Gaza could put the lives of the hostages at great risk, emphasizing the need to handle the situation with extreme caution to preserve lives.

The Chief of Staff pointed out that the Israeli army has succeeded in recent months in creating the field and security conditions that allow for an agreement to be reached, calling on the political leadership to seize the moment and not waste it.

This comes amid increasing pressure on Netanyahu to reach a ceasefire that guarantees the release of the hostages and halts military operations before a large-scale attack to take control of the city of Gaza.

Despite ongoing indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas for several months, no tangible results have emerged so far.

In contrast, right-wing members of Netanyahu's government strongly oppose any agreement with Hamas, with right-wing Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatening to leave the coalition government if Netanyahu accepts a ceasefire.

In this context, former Israeli Defense Minister and political opponent Benny Gantz proposed forming a "Hostage Redemption Government" for six months to reach an agreement that ends the crisis.

Gantz stated at a press conference that this government should begin its work by securing the return of all 50 hostages held in Gaza – it is believed that 20 of them are still alive – with new elections to be held at an agreed-upon date after the period ends.

Observers believe that Netanyahu is unlikely to accept this proposal due to his reliance on support from the far-right.

In a related context, families of the hostages have demanded that the government ensure the agreement is reached out of concern for the lives of their loved ones in captivity.

On the other side, Hamas announced last Monday that it had provided a "positive response" to the new ceasefire proposal, which is a modification of a previous proposal from U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff.

The agreement stipulates a ceasefire for 60 days, coinciding with the release of 10 living hostages in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners.

In return, Netanyahu confirmed last Thursday his approval of plans for the Israeli army to seize the city of Gaza, the largest city in the strip, home to about a million residents, in an attempt to completely destroy Hamas.

Amid these developments, protests continue in Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities, where demonstrators are calling for an end to the war and the release of all hostages, at a time when political and security tensions are escalating that could determine the fate of the conflict in the coming days.