Tel Aviv:
In an apparent shift in approach, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has indicated that Tel Aviv was open to a deal with Hamas to “end the fighting” in Gaza, laying out conditions for such an agreement. The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said the hostage negotiation team in Doha was exhausting “every possibility” for a deal with the Palestinian group to either temporarily cease fighting or permanently end the war.
Per the PMO, its team is looking at US special envoy Steve Witkoff’s proposal for a limited hostage exchange and short-term ceasefire, or a comprehensive agreement to end the war by releasing all hostages in Gaza and the complete surrender and exile of Hamas operatives.
“Even at this very moment, the negotiation team in Doha is working to exhaust every possibility for a deal — whether according to the Witkoff framework or as part of ending the fighting, which would include the release of all the hostages, the exile of Hamas terrorists, and the disarmament of the Gaza Strip,” his office said in a statement.
According to Israel, 58 hostages remain in Hamas’s captivity, with about 23 of them said to be alive.
The signal of ending the war shows a major policy shift from Israel, which has consistently said that fighting in Gaza will not end without the destruction of Hamas as a military and governing power. Israel has blocked the entry of medical, food and fuel supplies into Gaza since the start of March to try to pressure Hamas into freeing Israeli hostages and has even approved plans that could involve seizing the entire Gaza Strip and controlling aid.
What Does Hamas Say?
Hamas has said it will only free the hostages in return for an Israeli ceasefire as mediators from Egypt and Qatar, backed by the United States, began a new round of indirect ceasefire talks between the two sides on Saturday.
However, potentially complicating the ceasefire talks further, reports in Israeli and Arab media said Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar may have been killed in an Israeli airstrike, a claim neither confirmed nor denied by either Hamas nor Israel.
In the overnight strikes earlier today, the Israeli military killed at least 100 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has expanded its strikes on the enclave, killing hundreds of people since Thursday, in preparation for a new ground offensive to achieve “operational control” in parts of Gaza.
Pressure Mounting On Netanyahu?
In Israel, Einav Zangauker, the mother of Hamas hostage Matan Zangauker, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was refusing to end the war in exchange for Hamas releasing the remaining hostages because of his political interests.
“The Israeli government still insists on only partial deals. They are deliberately tormenting us. Bring our children back already! All 58 of them,” Zangauker said in a post on the X social media platform.