Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives at the courtroom at the Tel Aviv District Court for the 10th day of his testimony in his corruption trial, February 17, 2025. (Gideon Markowicz/ POOL)
A “senior source familiar with the details” releases a statement claiming that the release of four dead hostages tomorrow and six living hostages on Saturday is a direct result of changes to the negotiating team.
“The achievement of the agreement to release six of our living hostages in one fell swoop, alongside the return of four dead hostages tomorrow, is the result of the prime minister’s decision to change the composition of the negotiating team,” the “senior source” says.
“The new team changed the dynamic and led negotiations instead of concessions,” the statement says.
“It also stopped the practice of regular and biased briefings against the prime minister and the political echelon, which only caused Hamas to entrench its position and add demands,” the statement concludes.
Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, a longtime confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, will lead talks on phase two of the hostage release-ceasefire deal with Hamas, according to Hebrew media reports yesterday.
Mossad chief David Barnea has led previous rounds. Netanyahu pushed aside Barnea, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, and IDF hostage point man Nitzan Alon, with whom he has sparred throughout the negotiations.
The security chiefs have long felt that a deal could and should have been reached earlier but that political considerations in Israel hampered those efforts.
Mossad chief David Barnea (R) and Shin Bet director Ronen Bar, attend a ceremony marking the Hebrew calendar anniversary of the Hamas attack on October 7 last year that sparked the ongoing war in Gaza, at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem on October 27, 2024. (GIL COHEN-MAGEN / AFP)
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