In first, US acknowledges that Netanyahu added conditions that hampered hostage talks in July
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief

Hours after a hostage deal was announced, a top Biden administration official publicly confirms for the first time that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu added conditions to prior proposals being negotiated that hampered those talks.
For months, Biden officials publicly insisted that Hamas was the main obstacle to a deal, and while sometimes said “both sides” were not cooperative, avoided ever singling out Netanyahu.
Israeli, Arab and US officials all told The Times of Israel on condition of anonymity that Netanyahu was also chiefly to blame at times for breakdowns in negotiations, particularly in July when he added conditions to his earlier proposal regarding the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, which torpedoed the negotiations.
Former members of Israel’s war cabinet Benny Gantz, Gadi Eisenkot and Yoav Gallant have all spoken publicly of this to varying degrees, revealing that Netanyahu’s desire to ensure his coalition would remain intact harmed efforts to reach a deal.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken appeared to suggest earlier this month that the US refrained from publicly criticizing Israel’s role in the talks amid fears that it would lead Hamas to harden its positions.
US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller says during a press briefing, “There have been times that Israel has introduced new conditions and new proposals that have made it more difficult to get an agreement.”
“There certainly have been times when we went to the government of Israel and said, ‘We think that you are pushing too hard, and we want you to back down,” Miller recalls.
However, he asserts that Hamas sometimes did the same thing and that since August, it was the main obstacle to an agreement. It was that month when Hamas decided that it wasn’t going to negotiate at all, he says.
Talks were further hampered by Israel’s killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in October, given that he was the main decision-maker, but Miller said the US supported that move and that it ultimately helped the negotiations.