Netanyahu said to tell cabinet that no point discussing phase 2 of hostage deal at the moment

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly told yesterday’s cabinet meeting that there was no point in discussing the second phase of the hostage deal at the moment, while the fate of the first phase was still up in the air.

“There is no point in discussing the second phase because it is just a hypothetical issue at the moment,” Channel 13 quoted Netanyahu as saying in leaked remarks from the closed-door meeting.

The report says the meeting did indeed not discuss the second phase, which is expected to see Hamas release all the remaining living hostages in return for an end of hostilities.

Also, during the meeting, ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Orit Struk from the far-right Religious Zionism party demanded that if Hamas fails to release the three hostages scheduled to go free on Saturday, Israel should round up and re-arrest the hundreds of Palestinian prisoners it has freed so far under the deal, Channel 12 reports.

The report says security officials balked at the demand, saying such a move was hasty and could endanger the lives of the hostages.

The proposal was rejected by the cabinet, the report says.