“Prime Minister, go to Cairo yourself. Don’t send anyone. You have to make a deal now,” Lapid said at the protest rally.
Cairo is currently hosting a new round of stalled negotiations aimed at ending the war and striking a prisoner exchange deal.
Lapid accused Netanyahu of stalling on a deal in order to protect himself by preserving the ruling coalition, in an interview with The Times of Israel on Thursday.
One of the points of contention in the talks was Netanyahu’s insistence on an Israeli military presence in the Philadelphi Corridor, on the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.
Speaking to The Times of Israel, Lapid said that “completing the hostage deal is much more important than maintaining the so-called Philadelphi Corridor.”
Netanyahu is under pressure from two sides: the opposition and the hostages’ families to strike a deal, and his far-right government partners, who have threatened to leave the ruling coalition if he agrees to the deal, effectively meaning the government’s downfall.
How are the negotiations going?
- Participants in the negotiations discussed new proposals for a settlement in Cairo on Saturday, seeking to bring the positions of Israel and Hamas closer together.
- Two Egyptian security sources said a Hamas delegation arrived Saturday to be close to the talks, to review any proposals that might emerge from the main talks between Israel and the mediating countries – Egypt, Qatar and the United States.
- A US official said US negotiators met with the Egyptians and then held bilateral talks with their Egyptian and Qatari counterparts on Saturday.
- The US official indicated that he believed that representatives from Egypt and Qatar met with Hamas officials.
- Months of on-again, off-again talks have failed to achieve a breakthrough that would end Israel’s devastating military campaign in Gaza or free the remaining hostages held by Hamas.
- The two Egyptian sources said the new proposals include solutions to sticking points, such as ways to secure key areas and the return of residents to northern Gaza.
- But there are no signs of a breakthrough on key sticking points, such as Israel’s insistence on maintaining control of the Philadelphi corridor.
- Hamas accuses Israel of backtracking on matters it had previously agreed to during the talks, a charge Israel denies, and the movement says the United States is not mediating in good faith.
- In Israel, Netanyahu has clashed with negotiators involved in the talks over whether Israeli forces should remain along the Gaza-Egypt border, according to a source familiar with the talks.
- A Palestinian official familiar with the mediation efforts said it was too early to predict the outcome of the talks.
- “Hamas is there to discuss with the mediators the outcome of their discussions with Israeli officials, and whether there is enough to indicate a change in Netanyahu’s position on reaching a deal,” the official added.
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