Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told cabinet ministers during a recent meeting that Israel’s conditions in upcoming negotiations on the terms of the second phase of the ceasefire and hostage release deal are for the Hamas terror group to disarm and have no presence in Gaza, and for the Palestinian Authority to be barred from the post-war management of the enclave, Israeli television reported Tuesday.

The Channel 12 news report came after the security cabinet met Monday night to discuss negotiations for the second stage of the ceasefire agreement, which have yet to begin despite originally being expected to start on February 3. Kan news said Netanyahu is also demanding the demilitarization of the Strip.

Following the meeting, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said Tuesday that the talks on the second phase — which is expected to provide for the release of all remaining hostages, the withdrawal of all IDF troops from Gaza and the end of the war — would begin “this week.”

Hinting at the stance Israel is expected to adopt in the upcoming negotiations, Sa’ar warned that Jerusalem “will not accept the continued presence of Hamas or any other terrorist organization in Gaza.”

But, he added, if the negotiations are constructive, Israel will remain engaged and may prolong the ceasefire.

“If we will see there is a constructive dialogue with a possible horizon of getting to an agreement (then) we will make this timeframe work longer,” he said.

It is unclear how Netanyahu’s reported demands regarding the ousting of Hamas, which reflect his public insistence that the terror group must be completely destroyed, can be reconciled with his pledge to secure the release of all remaining Israeli captives. Many analysts have assessed that the only way to enable the release of all the hostages would be for Israel to agree to end the war with the terror group functional in Gaza in some form, a scenario Netanyahu........

© The Times of Israel