Report: Netanyahu unilaterally toughened Israeli stance on hostage deal, angering ministers

The government has recently set ground rules for any deal with Hamas to free the hostages being held in Gaza, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later unilaterally decided to toughen them, Channel 13 news reports.

“Netanyahu is fudging the advancement of a hostage deal,” the network quotes an unnamed government official as saying.

The report says war cabinet minister Benny Gantz and observer Gadi Eisenkot were not told or consulted about the change, and that some ministers angrily confronted the premier on the matter.

Unnamed diplomatic officials are quoted saying work on a potential deal has not stopped. The Prime Minister’s Office comments that “the principal that Hamas demanded and that Prime Minister Netanyahu rejected outright is the demand to end the war.”