Israel to Get Respite from Hostage Releases, Prisoner Exchanges as Leaders Vow No Hamas Return to Gaza

JERUSALEM, Israel – For Israelis, this will be the first weekend in six weeks that Hamas-held hostages, living or dead, will likely not be freed. Both the U.S. and Israel are sending top negotiators to Cairo to work out an agreement for the return of the remaining hostages.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar stated, "We are ready to make the framework longer in return for (the) release of more hostages."

America's top Middle East negotiator, Steve Witkoff, is headed to the region to push for extending the ceasefire. Yet, he is plainly noting, "There's no room for Hamas in Gaza, in the West Bank. You can see from their actions that they haven't earned that right to be there."

Hamas is also absolutely refusing to disarm. Sa'ar made clear Israel can't put up with that. He said, "This is, from our point of view, totally unacceptable."

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz agrees that Hamas must no longer be allowed to govern or have the means to fight in Gaza. “Hamas will not remain in control of Gaza, neither for civil matters nor militarily," he declared. "It will not be because it cannot be.”

Katz also confirmed that Israel won't let go of the vital Philadelphi Corridor through which Hamas smuggled most of its weapons. He announced, “The IDF is maintaining a defined buffer zone in Gaza."

Israel's long-term goal is to prevent Hamas from getting close to the Jewish nation and maintaining the weapons to attack again.

As an Israeli source told Israel National News, "We won't allow the Hamas murderers to return to wandering with trucks and rifles on our border, and we won't allow them to rebuild themselves through smuggling."

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However, The Wall Street Journal reports Hamas is ready to return to guerilla warfare if the ceasefire ends.

The group has recruited thousands of new troops, has appointed new commanders, and has turned unexploded ordnances into deadly I.E.D's to detonate against Israeli troops.

As for the territory much of the world calls the West Bank, another U.S. Congressman is now insisting his people officially call it "Judea and Samaria," the biblical names for the land of Israel's history.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast wrote in a memo to the committee, "Jewish roots in this region span centuries and we must recognize that fact in both word and deed."

He added that Congress needs to "recognize Israel's rightful claim to the cradle of Jewish civilization."

On the ground, at least ten people were wounded in a ramming attack at a bus stop in central Israel, apparently carried out by a Palestinian who was living illegally in Israel.

The Netanyahu government is concerned about an outbreak of terror attacks in Judea and Samaria, especially as the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan begins Friday evening.

Often, there has been an upsurge in terror attacks during that time.