Today, Tuesday, Israeli Minister of National Defense Itamar Ben Gvir strongly criticized the prisoner exchange agreement to be concluded with the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) as it would be disastrous for Tel Aviv.

“I am very upset that they are talking about a deal that could be disastrous for us,” said Ben Quir, head of the far-right Jewish Power party.

Rumors have it that the Israeli government will make another huge mistake in the form of the “Shalit deal”, which referred to an exchange deal with Hamas in 2011 and included more than 1,200 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for soldiers. Gilad Shalit.

Ben Zivir added, “You remember when we released Shalit, we released the leader of the Hamas movement in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar and his friends, and we brought this problem to us.”

The Israeli military says it has held 239 prisoners in Gaza since October 7, while the al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas movement, and other Palestinian units have said they have captured about 250 Israelis.

Unfortunately, War Council Minister Benny Kants and “minister without portfolio” Kady Eisenkot are dragging the government into bad territory, Ben Gvir continued. It should be noted that Ben Zvir is not a member of Israel’s Council of Defense Ministers.

A close deal

In the early hours of Tuesday, Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas political bureau, confirmed that reaching a cease-fire agreement with Israel was imminent.

“The movement has given its response to the brothers and mediators in Qatar and we are close to reaching a ceasefire agreement,” Haniyeh said in a statement, without elaborating.

For his part, Hamas leader Izzat al-Rishq told Al Jazeera that details of the deal would be released in the coming hours, explaining that “the brothers in Qatar will announce the details of the ceasefire agreement.”

On Sunday evening, Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani said “the exchange agreement between Israel and Hamas will be concluded soon,” without specifying a specific date.

Hamas Tel Aviv offers to release several Israeli prisoners, including foreign nationals, in exchange for several days of cease-fire, fuel and food entering the Gaza Strip, and the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons.