Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said, on Sunday, that Israel had failed to achieve its goal of “defeating Hamas” and “dismantling the movement’s military and governmental capabilities” during its 15-month war on the Gaza Strip, but he declared that Tel Aviv “will remain committed.” achieving this goal.”

Saar added in statements reported by CNN: “Unfortunately, we did not achieve the goal of dismantling Hamas, but we were able to transform it from an army into a group waging a guerrilla war.”

Sa'ar stated that the agreed-upon ceasefire is "temporary." He added: "We will begin negotiating the second phase after a little more than two weeks during the first phase," considering that "the transition from one phase to another is not automatic."

Saar said: “I do not want to hide the fact that we are paying a painful price within the framework of this agreement. The release of Palestinian prisoners from prison, including those convicted of murder, is an extremely painful, difficult and risky matter,” adding: “We had a painful discussion.” "It was very, very real in government on Friday, but I think we made the right decision from the standpoint of our commitment to our brothers and sisters who have been there for more than 15 months."

"Trump did not put pressure on Israel"

Sa'ar considered that the participation of US President-elect Donald Trump's team in the ceasefire negotiations was "impressive" and "very useful during the last weeks" that preceded the ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement between Israel and the Hamas movement.

He told CNN, "America's strong participation, and President Trump's strong participation, was very influential and useful during recent weeks."

Saar denied that Trump forced Israel to conclude a ceasefire agreement, adding: “We worked together to achieve a goal that was very important to us, and President Trump was very helpful in achieving this goal.”

The agreement officially entered into force on Sunday, two hours and 45 minutes later than scheduled, after last-minute complications that threatened the implementation of the agreement, due to the delay in announcing the names of Israeli female detainees scheduled to be released on the first day.

On Sunday, members of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas movement, handed over the first batch of Israeli detainees, which on its first day included 3 Israeli female detainees.