Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office announced that "the Prime Minister did not add any new demands to the proposal regarding Gaza but opposed the amendments requested by Hamas." It stated, "Hamas is the one that requested 29 amendments to the proposal, and the draft from July 27 regarding Gaza does not conflict with the previous proposal."
Netanyahu's office clarified, regarding the first point of contention (the Netsarim Corridor), that the July 27 proposal stipulates that only unarmed civilians will be allowed to cross the Netsarim passage to northern Gaza. The message emphasizes the necessity of establishing an agreed-upon mechanism to ensure this, which was initially raised by the American mediator, confirming that "the new message does not contradict the May 27 proposal but rather facilitates its implementation."
On the matter of the number of living hostages to be released, the statement noted, "the proposal states that a specific number of hostages will be released—whether alive or deceased." Israel's position in the message includes the necessity of releasing all living hostages in the relevant category, which aligns completely with the May 27 proposal again.
The third point of contention is "the method by which Palestinian prisoners will be released." According to Netanyahu's office statement, "the proposal stipulates that Israel will have the right to veto the release of a certain number of prisoners and can specify that a certain minimum number of prisoners will be released abroad (to a third country)."
A meeting to resume negotiations is set to take place in Doha or Cairo next Thursday, following a week after the leaders of the United States, Egypt, and Qatar issued a joint statement calling for Israel and Hamas to return to ceasefire talks.
