The Chief of Staff inside Gaza: "There are areas we were in - and we returned to them with better intelligence" / IDF Spokesman
Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi today (Saturday) held a situation assessment in the northern Gaza Strip together with the commander of the Southern Command, Major General Yaron Finkelman, the commander of the 162 Division, Brigadier General Itzik Cohen and other commanders.
Halevi emphasized that "we are making a move to deepen the achievement. There are areas we have already been to, and we are returning with better intelligence and making an achievement that is much higher and much deeper, literally, also into the ground, also in hitting the enemy."
According to him, "There are places we passed through at a very high combat rate, and we return to places to purify space at a very, very high level. These things bring another level of operatives, another level of commanders, more destruction of infrastructure."
The Chief of Staff in the Gaza Strip/IDF Spokesman
On the negotiations taking shape for a hostage deal, Halevi said: "We are also in the days of negotiations on the release of the hostages, I don't know where it will develop, there are those who are engaged in it, we are engaged in fighting.
I want you to know one thing - there is a connection between the things.
Your achievements - another battalion that you dismantle, another underground infrastructure, another neighborhood where the destruction of the infrastructure is carried out, and the population that evacuates to safe spaces - all these things put pressure on us, I very much hope, also to achieve the release of the abductees.
This is the goal of war, we intend to do a great deal to realize it, and the fighting effort is the most effective action that helps those who carry and give in all kinds of places for the release of the kidnapped.
This is the lever we are lowering on Hamas, and you are lowering it very well, we need to continue to lower it strongly, I hope we will know how to translate it into the release of the abductees as well."
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The Chief of Staff in the Gaza Strip/IDF Spokesman
The updated US outline:
The release of several hundred Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the release of 35-40 Israeli abductees, including civilian women, female soldiers, men over 50 and abductees in serious medical condition.
The number of prisoners that will be released for each of the female soldiers will be higher than for the other abductees that will be released at this stage and will also include "heavier" prisoners.
For each abductee who is released, Israel will agree to a day of ceasefire, when in total in the first phase of the deal it will be possible to reach a six-week ceasefire.
The American proposal includes an initial and limited return of Palestinian citizens to the northern Gaza Strip from the first stage of implementing the deal, under conditions to be defined later in the negotiations.
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