Tel Aviv:
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said on Sunday that US President-elect Donald Trump’s participation in the ceasefire-hostage agreement between Israel and Hamas was “very impressive”. Along with this, he claimed that Trump did not force Israel to do anything that it did not want to do.
According to CNN, Saar said that “the strong partnership between the United States and President Trump in negotiations over the past weeks has been very impressive and helpful.” Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 47th President of America on January 21.
The Israeli Foreign Minister said that Trump did not force Israel to do anything that it did not want to do. He said, “We worked together to achieve a goal that was very important to us, and President Trump was very helpful in achieving this goal.”
Sa’ar acknowledged that Israel had not achieved its goal of defeating Hamas, adding that the Palestinian group “is still in power in Gaza.”
The Israeli minister emphasized that the ceasefire agreed upon is temporary. “We will start negotiations on the second phase after a little more than two weeks during the first phase”, he said, but added that “moving from one phase to the other is not automatic.”
“I do not want to hide the fact that we are paying a painful price in this framework (agreement). Releasing terrorists, including murderers, from prison is very painful and difficult and also carries risks,” Sa’ar said last Friday. “We had very painful and honest discussions in government… but I think we took the right decision from the perspective of our commitment to our brothers and sisters who were there for more than 15 months.”
The long-awaited ceasefire in Gaza came into effect on Sunday after a few hours of delay. Under the agreement, on Sunday Hamas announced the names of three female hostages who will be released first.
During the first phase, Hamas will release a total of 33 Israeli hostages. Egypt (a mediator in the ceasefire) said on Friday that a total of 1,890 Palestinians would be released in the first six-week phase of the ceasefire.
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