Egypt Daily News – Dr. Diaa Rashwan, former head of the Journalists’ Syndicate and political analyst, stated that the core of the current negotiations over a truce in Gaza revolves around two main demands: the Israeli demand for the release of all hostages, and the Palestinian demand for a complete and permanent end to the aggression and war.
In remarks to Extra News, Diaa Rashwan explained that Israel, “as usual and with American backing,” backed down from the January 17 agreement, which stipulated moving to a second phase involving negotiations for a permanent ceasefire and the release of all prisoners. He emphasized that “the Palestinian side has not and will not abandon the principle of a permanent end to the war.”
He pointed out that current proposals suggest a 70-day truce, during which prisoner exchanges would take place in batches, alongside negotiations aimed at reaching a lasting ceasefire.
Rashwan noted that estimates put the number of living Israeli hostages held by the resistance at around 26, with 30 to 32 believed to be dead, totaling between 56 and 57 individuals. He stressed that “the resistance will not release all the hostages except under a guaranteed agreement from the United States or a clear, signed Israeli commitment to a permanent ceasefire.”
He clarified that the proposed 70-day mechanism includes a ceasefire, allowing humanitarian aid to enter, and ongoing negotiations for a final end to the war. He described Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as being aware that a permanent ceasefire would mean “political suicide” for him.
Rashwan also highlighted growing internal pressure on Netanyahu to end the war, noting that by Wednesday afternoon, 110,000 signatures had been collected from Israeli figures—including intelligence officers, soldiers, and reservists, demanding an end to the conflict. He described this as a form of “semi-rebellion” unprecedented in Israel.
He concluded that Netanyahu’s “impossible” condition of disarming the resistance is in fact an admission of total military failure, asking: “Israel has been waging war for a year and a half using the most powerful weapons and still hasn’t neutralized Hamas’s arsenal. How can it now demand, through political negotiations, the disarmament it failed to achieve militarily, even with all the American weapons at its disposal? This is an acknowledgment of complete military failure by Israel.”
