Report: Netanyahu, Dermer worked to stop US-Hamas deal to free only American captives
PM and senior minister said to have leaked Boehler-Hamas talks so Hamas would up the ante; US official says they are ‘afraid it will become clear’ who doesn’t want a hostage deal
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer ran a “crazy campaign” to prevent a potentially controversial US-Hamas deal that would see only hostages who are US citizens returned to Israel, the Yedioth Aharonoth newspaper reported Friday.
The report sparked an angry reaction from Netanyahu, with his office dismissing it as “outright fake news” and saying it played into the hands of Hamas propaganda efforts.
The report, which cited a senior US diplomatic and intelligence official and several Israeli officials, came as Hamas said it would release IDF soldier Edan Alexander, the last known living US-Israeli hostage, as well as the remains of four other US-Israel captives.
Writing for Yedioth, veteran correspondent Ronen Bergman said it was the premier’s office that had leaked earlier this month that White House hostages envoy Adam Boehler recently held talks with Hamas aimed at securing an interim deal to release US-Israeli captives.
The US official Bergman cited said the leak aimed to create daylight between Washington and Jerusalem, causing Hamas to harden its position and enabling Netanyahu to blame the terror group for thwarting the brewing deal. The official also said Israel wanted to maintain control over the flow of information from Hamas to the White House.
“It became clear to us that Netanyahu and Dermer are simply afraid it will suddenly become clear to the US who wants a deal and who doesn’t; who is reluctant and who is pushing for the continuation of the war,” the US official said.
Netanyahu’s office denied the report, calling it “another serious manipulation and outright fake news in the middle of negotiations, serving Hamas’s psychological warfare.”
The PMO said that Netanyahu “has insisted on maximizing the number of hostages alive in the deals, in the face of those who are briefing Bergman and who want to submit to Hamas’s dictates of surrender.
“Absurdly, the more the prime minister succeeds in returning the kidnapped, the greater the political criticism against him,” said the PMO, promising that the government “will continue to do everything in its power, together with the security establishment, to return all of our hostages, both living and dead.”
According to the US official cited by Bergman, the IDF’s “excellent” 8200 signals intelligence unit had found out ahead of time about the direct US-Hamas talks. The White House was surprised by Israel’s discovery of the top-secret talks, which were known to US President Donald Trump, the official said.
The official added that Dermer, a long-time Netanyahu confidant and the current Israeli point man on the hostage deal, managed to thwart a planned meeting between Hamas and Boehler in January. Dermer also tried to stop hostages’ families from meeting Trump earlier this month, the official said.
However, one of the hostage’s relatives cited by Berman said Dermer had in a meeting last year urged families of US-Israeli captives: “Go to America. Talk to the administration and the establishment there so that they act. That has a much better chance of making something happen than talking to us.”
The strategic affairs minister called the Yedioth report “a bunch of lies” and said he had advised hostages’ families “to also appeal to the American government in order to apply joint diplomatic pressure.” Dermer did not address the report that he had thwarted Boehler’s meeting with Hamas in January.
Netanyahu recently put Dermer in charge of negotiations for a ceasefire-hostage deal, sidelining Mossad chief David Barnea and Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar.
Any deal that would only see the release of hostages with a specific foreign citizenship would likely be highly controversial in Israel and seen as unfairly prioritizing certain individuals over others. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum has assailed such a deal as “passport-based discrimination.”
An official with knowledge of the matter told Bergman that Israel’s leadership had “exploded with rage” to learn about Boehler’s reported effort to secure the release of US-Israeli hostages. Another official expressed doubt that a US citizens-only hostage deal was even legal.
The US said earlier this week that Boehler’s talks with Hamas were an unfruitful one-off. Amid reports that Boehler had been removed from the negotiations, a US official told The Times of Israel on Thursday that the hostage envoy would continue supporting the team of Steve Witkoff, the White House Middle East envoy.
Witkoff confirms presenting a ‘bridge proposal’
Witkoff told reporters Friday that on Wednesday, he and White House National Security Council Mideast director Eric Trager had arrived in Doha and presented a “bridge proposal” to extend the Gaza ceasefire deal’s first phase beyond Ramadan and Passover, which ends on April 19.
This “phase one extension” will allow for additional time for Israel and Hamas to negotiate a permanent ceasefire, he said, as Israeli negotiators were set to return from Qatar.
The 42-day first phase, which ended March 2, saw Hamas release 33 women, children, civilian men over 50, and those deemed “humanitarian cases” in exchange for some 1,900 Palestinian prisoners, including over 270 serving life sentences in connection with the murders of dozens of Israelis.
Talks for the second phase were supposed to begin on February 3, day 16 of the first deal. However, Israel waited nearly a month after the first phase expired to start talks on the second phase, which would see Hamas release 24 captives still believed to be alive — all of them young men abducted on October 7, 2023, when the terror group stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza.
The second phase would require Israel to withdraw fully from Gaza and agree to a permanent end to the war — a red line for Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners. After the first phase expired, Israel blocked the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, citing Hamas’s refusal to accept Witkoff’s offer.
Jacob Magid contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.