Report: Netanyahu held secret direct talks with Hamas official during 2014 Gaza war; PM’s office denies claim

The Walla news outlet reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held direct negotiations with a senior Hamas official during the 2014 Gaza war without the knowledge of Israeli security officials.

According to the report, which cites a former senior member of Israel’s National Security Council, Netanyahu was put in contact with Hamas official Ghazi Hamad by Netanyahu’s business associate, Shlomi Fogel.

At the time, Hamad was a deputy minister in Hamas’s Gaza government.

The talks between Netanyahu and Hamad took place at the same time as official negotiations were underway in Cairo to end the monthlong war, the report says, adding that the Cairo delegation was unaware of Netanyahu’s backchannel talks.

The Prime Minister’s Office denies the report, saying that no such talks ever took place.

“These are false briefings by political elements trying to harm the prime minister,” the PMO says in a statement.

Fogel, in a statement, says he was “never dispatched by the prime minister or the head of the National Security Council to hold talks with Ghazi Hamad or any other Hamas officials. This is completely fake news.”

Yashar chair and election frontrunner Gadi Eisenkot says in response to the report that “every day, the explanation for why Benjamin Netanyahu is fighting for his life to thwart the establishment of a state committee of inquiry… becomes clearer.”

“For the umpteenth time, we are exposed to the failures of the Netanyahu government,” says the former military chief, accusing the premier of using “disorder, lies, and tactics of divide and conquer as a method of management.”

Yisrael Beytenu chair Avigdor Liberman declares in response to the report that the prime minister is a “danger to Israel’s security.”

“Netanyahu is the one who initiated the transfer of suitcases full of dollars to Hamas and personally offered immunity to terror leaders,” says the hawkish lawmaker. “Netanyahu corresponded with Yahya Sinwar. Netanyahu is a danger to Israel’s security.”

He reiterates the opposition parties’ pledge to establish a state commission of inquiry into the failures surrounding the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack if elected in October.