Israel’s Netanyahu tells Knesset ‘some progress’ made on Gaza deal 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has signalled to lawmakers that an agreement about the war on Gaza could be nearing.

“I wish to say cautiously that there has been some progress, and we will not stop acting until we bring them all home,” Netanyahu said in parliament on Monday, referring to the Israeli captives being held in Gaza since October 2023.

He told the Knesset he does not know how long it will take and that he cannot divulge details, but that his administration is taking serious action to bring the captives back.

Talks about a potential ceasefire agreement have heated up in recent days as Israel and Hamas have held indirect talks in Doha mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States.

Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine also said progress had been made after meeting on Saturday in Cairo.

They said the possibility of reaching an agreement is closer than ever, coming after Hamas said in a statement that a deal would be possible if Israel stops imposing new conditions.

There have been numerous rounds of negotiations since the start of the war after the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas and others, during which some 250 people were taken to the Gaza Strip and more than 1,100 people were killed.

It is believed that 96 of the captives remain in the besieged enclave, including the bodies of 34 people confirmed dead by the Israeli military.

Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four others were released before that, but no negotiations since have led to results as the Israeli military intensified its attacks on Gaza.

At least 45,317 Palestinians have been killed and 107,713 wounded by the Israeli military since the start of the war, with dozens more killed in strikes across the enclave on a daily basis.

Israeli forces continue to impose a heavy siege of more than 80 days on northern Gaza, where hundreds of people have been killed by bombs and shelling, as only 12 humanitarian aid trucks were allowed in since the start of October.

Kamal Adwan Hospital, the largest healthcare facility still partially operational in the north, has also been subjected to daily attacks. Israeli forces detonated remote-controlled vehicles, wounding at least 20 patients and medical staff overnight. The hospital’s director Dr Hussam Abu Safia said the attacks are aimed at “killing and forcibly displacing” the hundreds of people inside.

During his speech on Monday, Netanyahu also said Israel had made “great achievements” militarily on several fronts, and that military pressure had forced Hamas to soften its previous demands.

The Palestinian group had maintained that it wanted the Israeli military to fully withdraw from the enclave, including from the Philadelphi Corridor bordering Egypt, and the Netzarim Corridor set up to separate the northern and southern parts of Gaza.

Hamas also requested a surge in humanitarian aid for the starving population, and a bid to reconstruct the enclave.

But Israel has been signalling its intent to rebuild illegal settlements in Gaza, with a government coalition and far-right lawmakers last week formalising legislation to allow freedom of presence and the movement of Israeli civilians in the enclave.

The onslaught on northern Gaza has been widely described as an attempt to “ethnically cleanse” the Palestinians from their land.

The Israeli parliament on Tuesday added $9bn to the country’s 2024 budget, with the vast majority of the funds going to defence spending.

Netanyahu is “moving to a position where he has to accept a deal soon”, Rami Khoury, a distinguished fellow at the American University of Beirut, told Al Jazeera.

Sticking to his military strategy “has not brought him the political dividends that he needs for his Israeli public audience”, he said.

The Israeli government has not been able to devise a political strategy that matches their perceived prowess in the military field, which is based on United States support, he said.

“It’s unbelievable that with the total power of the US and Israel and some assistance from the United Kingdom and Germany and others, that Hamas has not surrendered,” he said.

“The Israelis are moving to the point where they can politically accept the key Hamas requirements, and they, in return, get what they want, which is permanent security guarantees from the United States, with some arrangements that might spill over into the Arab region,” he said.

The Israeli prime minister has been repeatedly accused of sabotaging numerous previous Gaza ceasefire talks, including through imposing sudden new conditions and ramping up military attacks.

The families of the captives held in Gaza, who have been holding weekly protests in Israel, have also accused him of prioritising his own political survival and his alliance with far-right lawmakers over the captives.