Military officials met with Health Ministry officials ‘to prepare hospitals for potential reception of hostages,' public broadcaster KAN says
Israeli ministries have been instructed to prepare for the arrival of hostages held Gaza as part of a potential swap deal with Hamas, Israeli media said on Monday evening.
“If the agreement is approved, the hostages are expected to arrive in Israel in the coming days,” the Israeli public broadcaster KAN said.
KAN said Israeli military officials met with Health Ministry officials “to prepare hospitals for the potential reception of the hostages.”
There was no immediate comment from Hamas on the report.
Early Monday, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar said that significant progress has been made in indirect negotiations with Hamas for a prisoner exchange deal.
“There is progress, I said it looks much better than previously,” Sa'ar told a joint press conference in Jerusalem with his Danish counterpart Lars Løkke Rasmussen.
“Soon we will know whether the other side wants the same thing,” he added, without giving a timeframe for reaching a deal.
Israeli news site Walla, citing two unnamed Israeli officials and a foreign source, said Israel and mediators have reached an agreement on a draft deal for the release of captives held in Gaza and a cease-fire in the enclave, which has been presented to Hamas.
Israel currently holds more than 10,300 Palestinian prisoners, while it is estimated that 99 Israelis are detained in Gaza. Hamas said that many Israeli captives have been killed in indiscriminate Israeli airstrikes.
The prisoner swap and cease-fire talks, mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the US, have been interrupted several times due to new conditions imposed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Israeli opposition and families of captives accuse Netanyahu of obstructing efforts to reach a Gaza cease-fire and prisoner exchange deal with Hamas.
The Israeli army has continued a genocidal war on Gaza that has killed nearly 46,600 victims, most of them women and children, since Oct. 7, 2023, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
