After three-hour Blinken meeting, Netanyahu says Israel backs new US hostage proposal
Prime minister also agrees to send main negotiators to Cairo summit this week, as top American diplomat leads push for deal
Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
After a three-hour meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Jerusalem on Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu put out a statement publicly backing the latest US “bridging proposal” that was presented to Israel and conveyed to Hamas at the end of talks in Doha last week.
“The Prime Minister reiterated Israel’s commitment to the current American proposal on the release of our hostages, which takes into account Israel’s security needs, which he strongly insists on,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement issued in Hebrew and English.
The statement marked the first time Netanyahu publicly endorsed the latest US formula.
On Saturday, Israel had cautiously welcomed the new US proposal. The PMO put out a statement at the time saying the proposal “contains components that are acceptable to Israel.”
Hamas rejected the US formula on Sunday night. In its statement, Hamas charged that Netanyahu “sets new conditions and demands” to thwart the talks and prolong the war in Gaza.
The terror group further claimed that the latest US-backed text was aligned with Israel’s demands.
The proposal, designed by the US to enable the finalizing of a hostages-for-ceasefire deal by the end of this week, seeks to solve disagreements over the continued deployment of Israeli forces along the Gaza-Egypt border and in the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza, among other sticking points.
Channel 12 news reported on Monday evening that the US proposal provides for “some kind” of ongoing Israeli presence on the Philadelphi Corridor on the border with Egypt. However, it added, Israel’s negotiators have told Netanyahu that this is not acceptable to Hamas and that there will be no deal if he insists upon it. On Saturday, several Hebrew media outlets, including Channel 12, had reported that the bridging proposal does not provide for an Israeli presence on the Philadelphi Corridor, or for a mechanism in central Gaza to prevent the return of armed Hamas forces to the Strip’s north, as also demanded by Netanyahu.
According to the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar on Monday, Israel agreed to gradually reduce the number of soldiers deployed on the Philadelphi Corridor, while in return Cairo agreed not to set a timetable for the troops’ complete withdrawal.
Egyptian officials still insisted that a full withdrawal be conducted as soon as possible, according to a source familiar with the talks quoted by Al-Akhbar. Egypt further asked the US negotiators to speed up the delivery of the equipment designated to secure the border route, and pledged to “work to ensure that there are no tunnels operating under it” through which weaponry could be smuggled into Gaza.
In addition to demanding an ongoing IDF presence along the Egypt-Gaza border and a mechanism to prevent Hamas fighters from moving north inside the Strip, Netanyahu has also insisted that Israel retain the right to resume the battle against Hamas in order to achieve both of the war’s declared aims — the release of all hostages and the destruction of Hamas.
It is not clear how the US “bridging proposal,” which has not been published, seeks to resolve these issues.
Netanyahu told Blinken in their meeting — which his office described as “positive” — that he would send his top negotiators to a summit in Cairo later this week, an Israeli official told The Times of Israel.
The team will be led by Mossad chief David Barnea, Shin Bet director Ronen Bar, and IDF hostage point man Nitzan Alon.
Earlier Monday, ahead of his meeting with Blinken, President Isaac Herzog put the blame squarely on Hamas for the failure to reach a hostage deal.
“People have to understand it starts with a refusal of Hamas to move forward,” said Herzog, adding that “we are simply still very hopeful that we can move forward in the negotiations that are held by the mediators.”
Blinken called it “a decisive moment, probably the best, maybe the last opportunity to get the hostages home, to get a ceasefire, and to put everyone on a better path to enduring peace and security.”
However, the secretary did not place the blame on Hamas: “It’s time for it to get done. It’s also time to make sure that no one takes any steps that could derail this process. So we’re looking to make sure that there is no escalation, that there are no provocations, that there are no actions that in any way could move us away from getting this deal over the line, or for that matter, escalating the conflict to other places and to greater intensity.”
“It is time for everyone to get to yes and to not look for any excuses to say no,” stressed Blinken, in what was widely seen as an oblique message to Netanyahu.
Blinken was set to meet Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in Tel Aviv later Monday, before heading to Egypt.
Gianluca Pacchiani contributed to this report.
