PM said mulling brief resumption of war to pressure Hamas on Gaza ceasefire terms
Netanyahu holds deliberations on deadlocked talks to advance second phase of hostage-ceasefire deal; IDF reportedly drilling rapid return to areas it withdrew from in Gaza
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering a brief resumption of fighting against Hamas to pressure the terror group into making further concessions, according to an Israeli television report aired Saturday as he held high-level deliberations on the stalled negotiations to advance to the second stage of the hostage-ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
Hamas has rejected Israel’s proposal to extend the first, 42-day stage of the deal, which formally expires Saturday night, insisting that the deal proceed with phase two, which Israel has largely refused to negotiate for the past month. Thirty-three Israeli hostages were released, eight of them dead, in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. Five Thai nationals held hostage in the Gaza Strip were freed separately.
With the ceasefire expected to lapse at midnight, Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz will meet Sunday, along with other security officials, to discuss preparations for a potential resumption of fighting in Gaza and a review of all potential war fronts, Channel 12 news reported.
Netanyahu also met with top aides on the continuation of hostage talks, according to Channel 13 news, which later said the meeting had extended beyond the three-hour mark. The premier held an extensive telephone discussion on Friday evening as well, which, in a rare instance, continued into Shabbat.
Netanyahu is not interested in holding talks regarding phase two of the hostage deal, the Kan public broadcaster reported. The second phase is meant to include the release of remaining hostages and steps leading to a permanent end to the war sparked by Hamas’s October 2023 attack, including a withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Strip.
Instead, the prime minister is considering either resuming the war for a brief period of time to pressure Hamas or allowing the ceasefire to remain in place without any hostage-prisoner swaps while giving mediators the time to pressure Hamas into additional concessions, the report said.
The warring parties have yet to clarify what would happen if no agreement was reached by the end of Saturday.
Under the ceasefire outline agreed by Israel and Hamas on January 19, the remaining living hostages — believed to number 24 — were to be released during the second stage of the deal, during which the IDF would complete a full withdrawal from Gaza. A third stage is also planned, during which the bodies of hostages killed on October 7, 2023, or held in captivity would be released, and the war would end permanently.
In the absence of an agreement on advancing to the second phase, Channel 12 said IDF troops have been drilling the past few days for a potential rapid return to areas in Gaza from which the IDF withdrew under the deal, including a return to the Netzarim Corridor, and for the movement of the civilian populace from the north of the Strip to humanitarian areas in southern Gaza.
Two IDF divisions are currently deployed to a buffer zone on the Gaza border, including the Philadelphi Corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border. An Israeli official sent a statement to reporters Thursday rejecting any withdrawal of IDF troops from the so-called Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border, despite the deal’s requirement that it do so by the 50th day of the ceasefire.
Israel contends that the border zone is a major smuggling route that will be used by Hamas to bring more weapons and fortifications into Gaza to rebuild its decimated forces unless it is policed by Israeli troops. Both Hamas and Egypt reject a continued Israeli presence there.
The Channel 12 report said the Southern Command is on heightened alert and readying for a potential return to fighting at short notice.
Meanwhile, an Israeli official told The Times of Israel that the Trump administration’s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff will not travel to the region until late next week at the earliest, as he plans to remain in the United States for President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday.
Witkoff said last weekend that he would travel to the region on Wednesday but ended up pushing back his trip, as Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky came to Washington. Trump has expanded Witkoff’s portfolio to include Russia-Ukraine negotiations, but the Mideast envoy was not seen in the Oval Office during Friday’s explosive meeting between Trump and Zelensky.
Egypt said Thursday that the US “participated” in the latest talks in Cairo aimed at extending the hostage deal, but it’s unclear who — if anyone — represented Washington in person, with Witkoff still stateside.
Officials from Israel, Qatar, Egypt, and the US had been involved in negotiations on the second phase in Cairo, with negotiators from Jerusalem returning home on Friday. Hamas did not attend the negotiations, but its position has been represented through Egyptian and Qatari mediators.
