Netanyahu denies setting new demands in talks with Hamas, says they are ‘necessary clarifications’

Shortly after The New York Times reports it has reviewed documents showing that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented new demands last month — as widely reported previously — that weren’t included in Israel’s US-endorsed May 27 proposal for a ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas, the premier’s office claims the demands aren’t new and merely complement and clarify the earlier offer.

“The July 27 draft doesn’t include new conditions and doesn’t contradict the May 27 outline,” the PMO’s statement says, but rather clarifies ambiguities about the original offer that allows for its implementation. “Hamas is the one that demanded 29 changes — something the prime minister opposed.”

Netanyahu’s office then goes over several matters in which he has been widely accused of introducing new demands that undermine the negotiations.

However, the statement by the Prime Minister’s Office notably does not refer to Netanyahu’s new demand for Israeli forces to remain at the Philadelphi Corridor between Gaza and Egypt, which contradicts the earlier proposal’s clause guaranteeing the “withdrawal of Israeli forces eastwards away from densely populated areas along the borders in all areas of the Gaza strip.”

The New York Times revealed that Israel’s July 27 updated response included a map that showed how Israel planned to remain in control of the Philadelphi Corridor

Relating to alleged new demands regarding security inspections at the so-called Netzarim Corridor currently bisecting Gaza, the PMO says the updated draft “refers to the need to establish an agreed inspection mechanism in order to guarantee that only unarmed civilians will return to northern Gaza… in accordance with what was proposed on May 27.”

Commenting on what it says is the accusations that he is now demanding that living hostages be released in the first phase of the deal, while the May proposal mentioned both “living and human remains,” the PMO says the updated draft stipulates that all living hostages in the relevant criteria must walk free, “in accordance with the May 27 outline, which said a certain number of hostages — live or dead — will be released.”

And regarding claims that Israel has made new demands on Israel vetoing a certain number of names of Palestinians to be freed or sent abroad, the PMO says the July 27 draft includes “necessary clarifications in order to implement what was written in the May 27 outline.”

The New York Times story does not make either of these two latter claims.