Israel heads to Cairo for critical talks – will present these 3 demands to Hamas 

The Security Cabinet is expected to convene today (Monday) at 6:30 p.m. at the Kirya in Tel Aviv, according to Channel 14. The discussion will deal with the opening of discussions on the second stage of the deal with Hamas, Hamas' demand to bring caravans into the Gaza Strip, and Israel's continued operations subject to President Trump's ultimatum.

Meanwhile, an Israeli delegation will leave for Cairo today to renew negotiations with Hamas. The three Israeli demands are: the release of all the hostages, the elimination of Hamas' military wing, and the exile of the organization's leaders from the Gaza Strip.

The delegation that will leave for Cairo today is different from the delegation that would normally go to the negotiations, headed by Brig. Gen. Gal Hirsch, head of the Prisoners and Missing Persons Division, who has already headed one delegation to Qatar at the current stage of the talks.

This is a change from the previous composition of the team: Shin Bet head Ronen Bar, Mossad head Dedi Barnea and Maj. Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon, who, with the exception of Barnea.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Israel. The two agreed that even if it is necessary to move forward to the second stage of the deal between Israel and Hamas, Israel will present three demands in the negotiations, which are fully backed by Washington.

The Americans believe that they will succeed in forcing Hamas to disarm, and therefore they insist that negotiations on a second stage take place. Later this week, we may see another Israeli delegation leaving for the capital of Qatar.

However, the chances that Hamas will agree to these demands are nil, so it seems that Israel is moving towards a resumption of fighting, but it is not entirely clear when this will happen. Trump clarifies that although his ultimatum referred to sitting at noon and then opening the gates of hell on Gaza, he backs any decision by Israel regarding when it will return to fighting.

The Prime Minister wants to return as many hostages as possible before returning to fighting, so what will apparently be offered to Hamas is an extension of Phase A, that is, a few more weeks of a cease-fire in exchange for a few more phases of the release of hostages in the format already agreed upon in the first phase of the deal.

Israel believes that the resumption of fighting is only a matter of time and timing, and that it will be done this time with full disclosure by the Americans and with much greater intensity than what we saw in the previous stages of the war.