Security chiefs said to agree Israel can withstand withdrawing from Gaza for 6 weeks
Defense minister, army chief, heads of Mossad and Shin Bet all reportedly told PM that Hamas won’t be able to effectively regroup if IDF temporary leaves Strip as part of hostage deal
All of the country’s top security chiefs are in agreement that if a truce and hostages-for-prisoners deal is reached with Hamas, the IDF can stand fully withdrawing from the Gaza Strip for the first six weeks of a potential agreement, the Kan public broadcaster reported Monday.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, Mossad Director David Barnea, and Shin Bet head Ronen Bar have all reportedly told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that they support such a deal, arguing that the relatively short period of time would not allow Hamas to regroup and rearm in a significant manner.
“We are aware of the security ramifications, but this is the time to prioritize releasing the hostages, whose time is limited,” the four have told the premier, the report said, adding that their position takes into account issues such as control of the so-called Philadelphi Corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border, and the return of Gazans and terror operatives to the Strip’s north.
The report was the latest to assert a divide between senior security officials and Netanyahu over proceeding with a ceasefire deal to free hostages that Hamas-led terrorists abducted from Israel during the devastating cross-border October 7 attack. Israel’s ongoing military offensive in Gaza is aimed at dismantling Hamas and freeing the hostages.
Netanyahu has recently toughened Israel’s positions in internationally mediated talks for a deal, reportedly spurred on by intelligence assessments that Hamas is weary, weakened and keen to end the fighting. Two key points that the prime minister has made a focus are ensuring Israel’s ability to directly prevent weapons smuggling to Hamas through tunnels under the Egypt-Hamas border, and preventing the terror group from moving its operatives from southern to northern Gaza by embedding them among Palestinian civilians displaced by the war when they are permitted to return home.
Channel 12 news reported similar details as Kan, saying Netanyahu pushed back against the security chiefs’ stance during a long discussion Sunday.
Halevi reportedly told the premier: “We will know how to create all the flexibility needed to honor the terms of the deal. This is the time to combine the military pressure and the negotiations and see how to move forward [to a deal].”
The network said Netanyahu did not give in on his demands, and so they appear in the response that Israel will convey to the mediators as talks are renewed on Thursday, even though there is a possibility that Hamas will therefore say no.
Channel 12 also quoted a senior security source saying that “there was and is an opportunity to bring home 30 living hostages, and every day that passes, we don’t know what will happen to them.”
As things stand, the delegation to resume talks is expected to be at a working team level — without senior officials — though that could change, the network said. However, according to Kan, Israel’s leading negotiator, Mossad chief Barnea, will lead the team, which has been granted broad leeway, though not on the issues of the Gaza-Egypt border or return of Palestinians to the northern Strip.
Last week reports said Barnea had urged the security cabinet to agree to a deal with Hamas for the sake of the hostages, noting that time was running out for young female captives in particular.
Netanyahu, however, is facing pushback from within his coalition, with the far-right Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism parties both threatening to topple the government if he tries to push through a deal without Hamas’s removal from power. In addition, over the weekend, eight lawmakers from Netanyahu’s Likud party wrote to him stating that they would refuse to back the hostage deal being discussed by Israel and Hamas in indirect talks unless significant changes are made to the proposal.
Among the demands of the eight MKs was that Israel not commit to withdrawing from the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza or the Philadelphi Corridor and that a significant IDF presence must remain along every significant route in Gaza.
Monday’s television reports came after the IDF announced that it had confirmed the deaths of two more hostages, Alex Dancyg and Yagev Buchshtav, who died in Hamas captivity. Their families criticized the government for not reaching a deal with Hamas earlier in the war, which perhaps could have saved the hostages.
International mediators continue to push Israel and Hamas toward the proposal which was initially floated by Israel and promoted by US President Joe Biden at the end of May. The proposal calls for a three-phase deal that would see Israel withdraw from Gaza in return for the hostages and the release of hundreds of Palestinian security convicts held in Israeli prisons. A major sticking point is Israel’s insistence that it have the option to resume the war later so it can continue its declared war goal to destroy Hamas, while the latter is demanding an end to the fighting.
The IDF has now confirmed the deaths of 44 of the remaining 116 hostages held by Hamas since October 7. The terror group kidnapped 251 people during the onslaught, in which some 1,200 were killed, mostly civilians. Hamas is also still holding the bodies of two soldiers since 2014 and two Israeli civilians who entered Gaza in 2014 and 2015.
