The building in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza Strip, Palestine, damaged by an Israeli airstrike on October 25 last year. Photo by Yonhap News.
Israel will enter negotiations this week to implement the second phase of the Gaza Strip ceasefire.
According to AFP, on the 18th (local time), Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar held a press conference and stated, "At yesterday's security cabinet meeting, it was decided to start negotiations on the second phase this week."
The negotiations focus on the complete demilitarization of the Gaza Strip. Minister Sa'ar said, "It is necessary for the Gaza Strip to be completely demilitarized, and the presence of the Palestinian Authority (PA) should not exist either."
He also emphasized that the 'Hezbollah model' cannot be applied. Hezbollah is an armed group in Lebanon with military capabilities comparable to a regular army. This means that no armed groups should exist in the Gaza Strip.
Additionally, he added that they are doing their best regarding the release of all Israeli hostages abducted by the Palestinian armed faction Hamas.
Israel and Hamas agreed last month on the 19th to halt hostilities for six weeks (42 days). According to the plan, the second phase discussions, where Hamas would release all hostages and Israel would completely withdraw from the Gaza Strip, were supposed to begin on the 3rd but have been delayed. Both sides accuse each other of violating the agreement.
Meanwhile, during the first phase of the ceasefire over the past month, Hamas has released 24 hostages in six rounds. Israel has also released about 1,100 Palestinians imprisoned in its territory.
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