PM says Israel committed to hostage-ceasefire offer after stating he wants ‘partial’ deal only

At the Knesset, Prime Minister Netanyahu says Israel is “committed to the Israeli [ceasefire] proposal welcomed by [US] President Biden. Our position has not changed.”

The Israeli proposal would reportedly see a hostage release in the first stage and a potential permanent ceasefire later down the line. But yesterday, Netanyahu said he was only “prepared to do a partial deal… that would return some of the people to us” while being “obligated to continue the fighting after a pause in order to complete our goal of destroying Hamas.”

Today too, he says: “We will not end the war until we bring back all the hostages… We will not end the war until we eliminate Hamas and return residents of the south safely to their homes.”

The terms of Israel’s latest ceasefire and hostage deal proposal, some of whose details were presented by US President Joe Biden last month, reportedly provides for a temporary ceasefire in the first phase of the deal, to be extended into “a sustainable calm (cessation of military operations and hostilities permanently)” in the second phase. However, Netanyahu has repeatedly denied that the Israeli proposal provides for ending the war before Israel achieves its two declared goals of destroying Hamas and bringing home all the hostages.

Former war cabinet observer MK Gadi Eisenkot said Monday that Netanyahu’s comments contradicted decisions made by the war cabinet. “As someone who sat in the cabinet, there were only two options: a full deal all at once, or a comprehensive deal in three stages. The cabinet voted unanimously on this, and therefore Netanyahu’s statement about a ‘partial deal’ is contrary to the war cabinet’s decisions.”