Khaberni - Israeli Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, on Tuesday, conditioned not killing about two hundred Palestinian fighters trapped in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Hamas delivering the remains of an officer it has held since 2014, according to Hebrew media.
The newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said: "This evening, Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir announced his willingness to consider releasing about 200 terrorists trapped in Rafah in exchange for the slain abductee Hadar Goldin".
Israel claims that Goldin was killed in a battle in Rafah, during the (adversarial) "Operation Protective Edge" in Gaza in July/August 2014, and "Hamas" holds his remains.
According to the newspaper, about 200 Palestinian fighters have been trapped in a tunnel behind the "Yellow Line", in Israeli-controlled territory, since the ceasefire took effect on October 10.
Zamir said: "If Hamas does not agree to a deal, those terrorists will not come out of there alive," according to the newspaper, without specifying where he made this statement.
"Hamas" captured Goldin in Rafah in 2014 and has not provided any information about him so far, and currently, the movement and Israel are conducting a prisoner exchange as part of the ceasefire agreement.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Channel 12 reported that "the political leadership (government) is still hesitant about how to deal with about 200 militants trapped in Rafah".
It continued: Meanwhile, "the Chief of Staff has made it clear to the political leadership in recent days that: No terrorist will come out of Rafah alive. I could consider releasing them on one condition, which is the return of Hadar Goldin."
On Monday, the same channel reported that Israel is considering allowing the fighters trapped in Rafah to cross the "Yellow Line" into an area controlled by "Hamas", in exchange for disarming them.
However, it later said that this "sparked outrage in political circles, and ultimately Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu's office announced that they would remain inside the Israeli-controlled area".
The newspaper "Maariv" reported on Monday evening that the Israeli military had begun pumping concrete and inserting explosives into the tunnel where the Palestinian fighters are located inside the "Yellow Line".
The "Yellow Line" separates the areas where the Israeli military is still present on the eastern side from the areas where Palestinians are allowed to move within the western parts.
A ceasefire agreement halted a genocidal war waged by Israel, with American support, against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip for two years since October 8, 2023.
This genocide left 68,872 Palestinian martyrs and 170,677 wounded, most of them children and women, and destruction affected 90 percent of the civilian infrastructure, with a reconstruction cost estimated by the United Nations at about 70 billion dollars.
The Israeli military repeatedly violated the ceasefire agreement, killing 250 Palestinians and injuring 579, most of them children and women, and arresting 29, according to the Gaza government media office.-(Agencies)
