What do Israelis think of a potential Gaza ceasefire?

CGTN Europe

A deal on a ceasefire in Gaza is the closest it's been in months, officials in Qatar have said.  Israel and Hamas have said ceasefire talks are at aa critical phase, with some details still needing to be finalised   With the ceasefire on the brink of happening, what do Israelis think of it?  CGTN’s Jonathan Regev tells us more  #Israel #Hamas #Ceasefire

Transcript

00:00It's being received mostly with happiness, as we know the Israeli public has been waiting

00:07for this for months, but far from being a unanimous thing, there's a lot of criticism

00:15on this deal on two separate issues.

00:19One is the fact that many people were saying that they want all of the hostages to be brought

00:24back at once, together.

00:26This is not the case.

00:27There's a first stage in which 33 hostages will be brought back, according to what Israeli

00:32officials are saying, the majority of them are alive, but not all of them.

00:37But even after that first stage, if we're speaking currently of 98 hostages, you bring

00:41back 33, that means that 65 hostages, some of them alive, will remain behind for a second

00:48stage.

00:49There is a certain framework for a second stage, but it's far from being finalized,

00:54and some families and some parliament members and people who are opposing the deal are saying

01:00that this framework is leaving 65 people behind, and who knows when will they be back, when

01:07will they be brought back.

01:08Are we certain that the second stage will eventually happen?

01:11Absolutely not.

01:12Do we have a certain framework of time for that second stage?

01:15No.

01:16Therefore, criticism on that issue.

01:18On the other hand, there's so much expectation for a deal, and the hope of seeing 33 hostages

01:23most of them alive, and those in a difficult situation, the elderly, the women, the children,

01:30a lot of expectation to see those people.

01:33As mentioned, we're speaking at least for the moment of two different stages.

01:38The first one should bring back 33 hostages, and of course there's no other way for Israel

01:45to do this but to pay a very expensive price, first and foremost, withdrawing forces not

01:51from the entire Gaza Strip but from larger portions of the Gaza Strip.

01:55Israeli forces will remain in certain buffer zones within Gaza but will leave most of the

02:00populated areas, and of course releasing many, many Palestinian prisoners, among them those

02:08convicted for life sentences, for murder.

02:10Yes, it is true that they will be deported.

02:13They will not be allowed to go back to the West Bank.

02:15They will be deported either to Gaza or to a third country, being Qatar or Turkey.

02:20That is something that is not very easy for Israel to accept.

02:23On the other hand, there is a clear understanding that if you want to bring 98 hostages back,

02:27you have to pay a very expensive price.

02:30All in all, the reception is good.

02:31All in all, there's great expectation for this to happen.

02:35One final thing that is important to note, yes, it seems as if this is very close, but

02:40until this is finalized, then everybody here in Israel understands that things can go wrong.

02:46Things can be derailed.

02:47We have seen optimistic signs in the past, and then eventually things did not happen.

02:53Therefore, until this deal is done, finalized, signed, and even furthermore, until hostages

02:59actually come back to Israeli territory, there will always be some skepticism in the Israeli

03:05side whether this will eventually happen or not.

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