Yair Lapid
Yair LapidArutz Sheva

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of lacking "a soul" for allegedly not doing everything in his power to secure a hostage deal.

“If Netanyahu is so convinced of his negotiating capabilities, he should travel to Egypt and sit there himself until a deal is reached. This is what a responsible prime minister should do when the lives of his citizens are important to him," Lapid said in a statement Wednesday.

“The only reason he doesn’t do this is because he no longer has a soul," the opposition leader added.

Earlier, Hamas official Osama Hamdan criticized the US ceasefire proposal that Israel has accepted.

According to Hamdam, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's recent statements "raise many ambiguities," and the deal on the table is "not what was presented to us nor what we agreed on."

Hamdan also told the news outlet, "We don't need new Gaza ceasefire negotiations, we need to agree on an implementation mechanism."

Speaking to the terror group's Al-Aqsa channel, Hamdan blamed the US government for failing to convince Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept the deal proposed by US President Joe Biden, and claimed that the US is trying to gain time in order to allow the continuation of the "destruction" of the "Palestinians."

Hamdan emphasized that a potential agreement would include an end to the "aggression," the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, and the reconstruction of the area.

One of the key issues at stake is whether Israeli forces will be allowed to stay in the Philadelphi Corridor to prevent weapons smuggling from Egypt into Gaza. Hamas seeks to force Israel to withdraw from the corridor so that it can rearm following its losses in the current war.