We had a meeting with the security cabinet last night. We decided to initiate negotiations on the second phase. It will take place this week, says Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar according to AFP.
According to the original timetable, these talks would have begun on February 3, but negotiations on how things will proceed and in what order have continued intensively during the ongoing first phase.
Difficult talks
Last week, Hamas said it was willing to wait with further releases, accusing Israel of several breaches of the ceasefire. Israel said it was willing to resume the war with renewed strength. In the end, the releases took place as planned.
The Palestinian Islamist movement now says it is ready to release six more living hostages this week. Initially, it was said that the remains of four dead hostages would be handed over on Thursday and that three living hostages would be released on Saturday.
Negotiations are underway, and it depends on what Israel is willing to pay, said an anonymous Hamas source to the news site Ynet earlier on Tuesday.
The demands right now are that Israel agrees to start negotiating the second phase and provides guarantees on humanitarian issues.
One of the hostages released over the weekend, Iair Horn, has spoken out in a recorded message played to a few thousand demonstrators in Tel Aviv on Monday evening, reports Times of Israel.
The time is up. We must get them back now, said Horn, whose brother is still being held captive.
Against "sustainable" calm?
Israeli government sources say to several Israeli media outlets that the government has agreed to allow heavier transports into Gaza, including barrack housing and building materials.
The second phase of the ceasefire is intended to create a "sustainable" calm in Gaza, with an Israeli withdrawal. This is a major stumbling block within Israel's government, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's extreme coalition partners are demanding that the war be resumed.
Netanyahu said on Monday that in the long term, it is the US plan for Gaza that applies: a large-scale expulsion of its entire Palestinian population, which has raised warnings of ethnic cleansing.
According to Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, Israel demands a "full demilitarization" of Gaza "without continued presence of Hamas or other terrorist groups".
The current ceasefire in the Gaza war began on January 19 this year and is scheduled to last for six weeks.
A key part of the agreement is that Israel releases Palestinian prisoners and other detainees, while Hamas releases people taken hostage in connection with the large-scale attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Israel is to release a total of around 1,900 people. Exactly how many are released each time is unclear, but it will happen simultaneously with Hamas releasing hostages.
When phase one is over, around 60 Israelis will still be held hostage by Hamas. The idea is that they will be released in a new phase of the ceasefire, which will also pave the way for an Israeli withdrawal and a more long-term calm in Gaza. But the circumstances for this have not yet been negotiated.
