Israel said to pause hostage talks to include PM’s new demands in proposed deal

The Israeli negotiating team conducting indirect talks on a hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas has been drawing up new clauses to take account of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recently added demands, and will not resume talks until the changes have been approved by him, Israeli television reported Thursday, while former hostages appealed for the government to finalize the deal.

The premier demanded earlier this month that Israel remain in control of the Philadelphi Corridor and the Rafah border crossing, to prevent weapon smuggling to Hamas across the Egyptian border, and insisted that armed groups be prevented from returning to the northern Gaza Strip when displaced civilians return in the first phase of the proposed deal.

Israel’s May 27 proposal — published in full by The Times of Israel last week — does not specify the Philadelphi Corridor and the Rafah Crossing as locations where Israeli troops will be allowed to remain, and its wording does not set out a mechanism whereby armed gunmen would be prevented from returning to northern Gaza.

According to Channel 12 news, negotiators intend to present the new clauses to Netanyahu and his senior ministerial colleagues, and once their approval is obtained, the changes will be conveyed to US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators, before they are relayed to Hamas. However, the report did not specify whether the fresh formulations would be part of an amended proposal, or an appendix to the existing one.

Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar has also been working with Egyptian and American mediators to resolve the security issues, the report added.

It underlined that the formulations marked a departure from the May 27 proposal, which was approved by Netanyahu and the now dismantled war cabinet and then publicly detailed by US President Joe Biden on May 31.

In light of changes being made, the TV report said that Mossad chief David Barnea, who heads the negotiating team, has not scheduled a date to fly to Doha for the resumption of talks and is not expected to depart in the coming days.

The negotiating team was said by anonymous sources to believe that the new texts would “break the deadlock” in negotiations, but talks on finalizing the details were expected to take several more weeks.

Citing a senior Israeli official, journalist Barak Ravid posted on X that Netanyahu was set to meet with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and the negotiating team to discuss the latest demands on Thursday night, spurred on by intelligence assessments that Hamas is weary, weakened and keen to end the fighting.

‘Hit Hamas harder’

The premier in recent days has said, both privately and publicly, that a deal is close, but that further military pressure on Hamas was still required.

He was quoted by Channel 12 as having said that if Israel were to “hit [Hamas] harder military, we’ll be able to bring a deal to fruition. Hamas is starting to crack.”

He made similar comments Thursday afternoon when visiting troops in the southernmost Gaza city of Rafah, where he told them that Israel’s control over the Philadelphi Corridor and the Rafah Border Crossing was “critical” for the next stage of the war on Hamas.

“At the same time, the military pressure [IDF forces] are exerting right here, in Hamas’s throat, helps us to stand firm on our just demands, helps us promote the hostage deal — including our demand to release a maximum number of hostages in the first stage of the plan.”

The pressure, Netanyahu said, “does not delay a deal, it advances it.”

Against the backdrop of Netanyahu’s demands, the United States was reported by the Kan public broadcaster to have conveyed to Hamas that it should ignore him, as it believes them to be nothing more than politically motivated bluster.

According to that report, Hamas appeared to have accepted the US’s explanation, as the terror group has not reacted publicly to his demands, nor has it withdrawn from, or threatened to withdraw from the talks over Israel’s pending changes.

Despite the uncharacteristic silence from Hamas on the matter, security officials have expressed concern that Netanyahu’s demands could derail the progress being made in securing a hostage deal.

Speaking to Channel 12,  unnamed sources in the security establishment warned that time may not be working in Israel’s favor — both because of the daily danger to the lives of the hostages and because there’s no way of knowing what other developments could derail a deal in the coming weeks if it’s not done now.

Unnamed cabinet sources expressed similar displeasure, charging that Netanyahu was deliberately putting off finalizing a deal.

The sources speculated that the prime minister was doing so either to ensure his coalition survives until the start of the Knesset summer recess at the end of July or to try to present Hamas as the rejectionist side.

His position puts the deal “at risk,” they told Channel 12.

Hostages are ‘dying slowly in body and soul’

Echoing these fears, three former Hamas hostages called on the government to close the deal as soon as possible, and, at a press conference in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, accused the government of abandoning the hostages.

The three were among the 105 civilians who were released from Hamas captivity during a weeklong truce in late November.

“What we experienced in 49 days, the 120 [remaining] hostages have been experiencing for almost six times the amount of time we lived in terror in Hamas captivity,” said Danielle Aloni, who was kidnapped on October 7 along with her her husband David Cunio and daughter Emilia. Cunio is still captive in Gaza.

“They have been abandoned there. For nine and a half months, they’ve been miserable, they’re suffering, they’re dying slowly in body and soul, even those who are still alive.”

It is believed that 116 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, of whom 42 have been confirmed dead by the IDF. Hamas is also holding the bodies of two IDF soldiers killed in the 2014 Gaza War, and two civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, and who are believed to be alive.

Addressing Netanyahu ahead of his trip to Washington next week, released hostage Adina Moshe said, “I call on you prime minister: save those who you can. There are live hostages. There’s no time.”

“Sign the deal, you will be the one who returns the living and the dead for burial. Be the one who allows us all to get out of this hell, to feel again like Jews, Israelis, who do everything for our brothers and do not abandon them,” Moshe added.

Raz Ben Ami, whose husband Ohad remains in Hamas captivity, pleads, “Bibi, you tell me, how will I be able to go on if you don’t sign your deal now and give me Ohad back?”

“If the deal doesn’t go through this time, does that mean I should start forgetting about him? I ask you, I demand of you: first the deal and then the flight,” she added, referencing Netanyahu’s imminent trip to the US, where he will address a joint session of Congress.

An attempt by the US, meanwhile, to meet Israel halfway with regard to the long-term control of the Rafah Crossing, has reportedly hit roadbumps.

In an effort to move the hostage negotiations along, White House Middle East envoy Brett McGurk was said by Channel 12 to have asked the Palestinian Authority to retract its demand for the Rafah Crossing to be placed under its purview.

Instead, an alternative option was presented in which the US and Egypt would jointly assume responsibility for the crossing, and for preventing weapons smuggling along the border.

The advisers of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas were said to have refused, and instead reiterated the demand that it be granted a significant role in the governance of post-war Gaza.

According to the report, the PA’s refusal to sign off on the US’s proposal for the Rafah Crossing could damage the chances of Israel and Hamas reaching a hostage deal, as both sides have refused to entertain the notion of the West Bank body returning to the Gaza Strip.

Lazar Berman contributed to this report