Benjamin Netanyahu in a message to Joe Biden
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is expected to hold a conference on Saturday night or Sunday morning for a consultation to decide whether and how to expand the mandate of the Israeli negotiating team before he leaves for talks in Qatar regarding the abductee deal, said two senior Israeli officials familiar with the matter.
why is it important
Israeli senior officials believe that because significant gaps still remain between the parties, additional flexibility is also needed on Israel's part to conduct negotiations and reach a deal. Israeli senior officials said that this cannot be done without expanding the mandate of the negotiating team.
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The issue of expanding the mandate of the negotiating team has already come up several times in the War Cabinet discussions in the last two weeks, but Netanyahu postponed the decision on the issue until receiving an official answer from Hamas to outline the hostage deal. Now that Hamas has submitted its answer, the issue of expanding the mandate is on the table again.
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the situation picture
Differences remain between Israel and Hamas on the issue of the number of prisoners to be released for each Israeli abductee.
The "key" for the release of prisoners that Hamas demands is lower than before, but still more than double the one that appeared in the Paris plan and included the release of 400 prisoners in total for about 40 abductees, of which about 15 are prisoners serving life sentences for murdering Israelis.
In response to the Paris outline delivered yesterday (Thursday), Hamas demands the release of over 1000 prisoners and over 100 prisoners serving life sentences for murdering Israelis.
Senior Israeli officials say that negotiations can close the gap between the parties on this issue.
A senior Israeli official said that Hamas demands the release of 50 prisoners for each of the five female soldiers held captive.
A permanent ceasefire in the second phase of the deal - still remains in dispute in the deal.
IDF fighters in the Gaza Strip/IDF spokesman
However, the two most difficult disputes are Hamas' demand that the IDF withdraw from the corridor it created south of Gaza City and which prevents the return of Palestinians to the north of the Strip, as well as Hamas's demand that the second phase of the deal already include a permanent and not temporary ceasefire.
What next
The Israeli negotiating team led by the head of the Mossad, Dedi Barnea, is expected to leave for Doha at the beginning of the week and meet with the Prime Minister of Qatar, Mohammed bin Abdel Rahman Al Thani, to present to him Israel's response to Hamas' answer.
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