Report: Halevi proposed comprehensive hostage deal last year, Netanyahu refused

Former IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi tried to convince Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a deal that would have seen all the hostages freed ahead of the Rafah offensive last year, and the premier firmly rejected the proposal, the Kan public broadcaster reports.

Unnamed sources tell the outlet that in the months before the IDF operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, Halevi pushed for a ceasefire deal that would see all the hostages released in one phase.

According to the plan formulated by the military, the release of all the hostages held in Gaza would make it easier for the IDF to defeat the Hamas terror group.

The report says that when Halevi raised the proposal at a meeting of the high-level security cabinet, Netanyahu quickly rejected it as “defeat.”

The report says that the dismissal of the plan was so firm that it wasn’t even suggested to the team negotiating a hostage-ceasefire deal, with Netanyahu’s government instead pushing for a phased agreement.

Kan says that the Prime Minister’s Office did not respond to a request for comment on the report.

Last month, Hamas said it had agreed to the partial ceasefire-hostage release deal that was almost identical to one Israel had previously approved, but Jerusalem has not yet responded to the proposal, and Netanyahu has not brought it before the cabinet for deliberation, reportedly saying Sunday that the agreement is “not on the table.”

Netanyahu says in public that he will not accept a phased deal, instead now demanding a comprehensive agreement to return all the captives in one go and see Hamas surrender and demilitarize.