IDF Chief: Hostage Deal is on the Table
Senior officials say phased-release framework, which Hamas said it accepted, no longer relevant; renewed talks’ location, timing, and make-up undetermined as war’s expansion looms.
IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir said Sunday that the military has created the conditions in Gaza for a hostage deal with the Hamas terror group, reportedly adding behind closed doors that the government must accept the proposal that’s currently on offer.
Senior Israeli officials, however, said the phased-release framework that Hamas said it accepted last week is no longer relevant.
“There is a deal on the table, it’s the improved Witkoff framework [proposed by the U.S. Mideast envoy],” Zamir said while visiting the Haifa naval base, according to Channel 13 news. He reportedly said that “now it’s in Netanyahu’s hands,” and that “there is great danger to the lives of the hostages in taking over Gaza City.”
In official remarks released by the Israel Defense Forces, Zamir said the military has met the objectives of its “Gideon’s Chariots” operation against Hamas in Gaza, “and as a result of the military pressure, we created the conditions for the release of the hostages.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to convene the security cabinet on Tuesday to discuss Gaza and efforts to reach a hostage deal, Channel 12 reported on Monday evening. The TV network said that it will be decided either Monday or Tuesday where the new round of negotiations is to be held, though their timing and the make-up of the team are still not determined.
Previous rounds of negotiations throughout the 22-month war have taken place in Egypt and Qatar, countries that have played key roles as intermediaries between Israel and the terror group.
According to Channel 12, the next round of talks may take place in the United Arab Emirates, or possibly in Europe. Also to be decided, according to the TV report, is whether the composition of the delegation will be any different from the group that went to Qatar last month before that round of talks collapsed. Mossad director David Barnea, who participated in previous negotiations, may return to the team, the network reported.
The premier said last week that he had issued instructions for an Israeli negotiating team to pursue a comprehensive deal with Hamas, after the terror group — having repeatedly rejected the so-called Witkoff framework for a ceasefire and phased hostage release — said it had accepted the proposal.
The terror group’s announcement came days after Netanyahu — who’d long pushed for the Witkoff framework — said he would no longer accept a partial agreement, and would only negotiate for the release of all the hostages together.
Hamas’s purported acceptance of the Witkoff deal also came in the wake of Jerusalem’s approval of a plan to take over Gaza City — a plan that Zamir is reported to have strongly opposed behind the scenes, citing danger to the remaining hostages, of whom 20-22 are believed to be alive.
Retired generals, opposition lawmakers and citizens in support of a hostage deal have all warned publicly that Hamas guards could murder captives if Israeli troops draw near, as the terror group has done to other hostages in the past. Family members of slain hostages whose bodies are held in the Strip have also warned that a Gaza City takeover could prevent the retrieval of their loved ones’ remains.