Between the hostage deal and the Rafah invasion…an opinion poll reveals the aspirations of the Israelis

An opinion poll conducted by the Israeli newspaper “Maariv” showed that “the majority of Israelis are inclined towards reaching a deal to return those kidnapped by Hamas in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons, instead of carrying out a ground military operation in Rafah,” south of the Gaza Strip on the border with Egypt.

According to the newspaper, 54 percent of respondents believe that reaching a deal to return the kidnapped people is now more important than carrying out a large-scale military operation in Rafah, compared to 38 percent who support the military operation.

The survey results come at a time when mediators are working to reach an agreement on the release of hostages held by Hamas and a ceasefire in Gaza.

CIA Director William Burns arrived in Egypt on Friday, according to Egyptian sources.

An Egyptian security source told Reuters that the Egyptian mediators will meet with the Hamas delegation and CIA officials on Saturday, but it is not clear whether the meetings will be with each side separately or with the two sides together.

The US Central Intelligence Agency declined to comment.

For his part, US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, said on Friday that Hamas is “the only obstacle between the people of Gaza and a ceasefire” with Israel.

Blinken added at the Sedona Forum organized by the McCain Institute in Arizona: “We are waiting to see if they can actually accept the answer ‘yes’ regarding the ceasefire and the release of the hostages.”

“Ben Gvir and Smotrich resign”
In addition, the “Maariv” poll revealed that “79 percent of right-wing party voters support launching a ground operation in Rafah, compared to 81 percent of left- and center-party voters who support a deal to release the kidnappers.”

When the poll participants were asked whether the Ministers of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, and the Ministers of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, the hard-liners, should resign from the government if the “swap deal” is accepted, 47 percent of the participants answered yes, while 28 percent answered no, and 25 expressed their opinion. 100% do not know the answer.

Both Ben Gvir and Smotrich threaten to resign from the government if a truce deal is reached and the military operation in Rafah is abandoned, according to what the Times of Israel newspaper reported on April 28.

Regarding not accepting the exchange deal, the results showed that 38 percent of participants believed that the war government ministers (Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot) should resign, while 41 percent objected and 21 percent expressed uncertainty about the answer. (free)