| Submit your comments on this article |
| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Netanyahu says Qatar negotiators also discussing end to Gaza war if Hamas disarms |
| 2025-05-19 |
| [IsraelTimes] PM shifts from insistence only on limited, temporary hostage-truce deal; conditions end of conflict on Hamas fighters going into exile; announcement comes amid new IDF offensive Israel’s negotiation team in Qatar was exhausting “every possibility” for a deal to free the hostages, including a framework that would consider an end to the war, the Prime Minister’s Office said Sunday, indicating a shift in position by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu has until now insisted that the team would only negotiate on the basis of the US special envoy Steve Witkoff’s proposal for a short-term ceasefire and limited hostage exchange. However, in a statement, the PMO said that the team was now working toward the possibility of either Witkoff’s proposal, or an agreement to end the war through a comprehensive release of all hostages in Gaza and the complete surrender and exile of Hamas. “Under the prime minister’s direction, even at this hour, the negotiating team in Doha is working to exhaust every possibility for a deal — whether according to the Witkoff outline or within the framework of ending the war, which would include the release of all hostages, the exile of Hamas terrorists and the disarmament of the Gaza Strip,” the statement said. Talks are being held as the Israel Defense Force ramps up a new military offensive in Gaza aimed at seizing most of the Strip. The fighting was likely to significantly expand should the talks fail. “Thanks to [Netanyahu’s] policy of exerting military and diplomatic pressure, the government has so far succeeded in bringing home 197 hostages, and is doing everything possible to return the 58 remaining captives,” the PMO said. Meanwhile, an Israeli official told Ynet: “We are giving Hamas a chance to come back from the brink before we take the drastic action in Gaza. We may reach a deal after the fighting, but the conditions will be less favorable for Hamas, so it would be better for them to release our hostages now and reach a deal.” Israel has consistently said that the war will not end without the destruction of Hamas as a military and governing power. In recent talks, Netanyahu has insisted on only agreeing to a temporary ceasefire of roughly 45 days, which would begin with Hamas releasing about 10 hostages. However, in the past, he has floated the willingness to end the war if Hamas surrenders and disarms. Hamas has indicated a willingness to give up power in Gaza, but has so far refused to give up its weapons. Before addressing the negotiations in Qatar, the PMO statement began by criticizing former Israeli hostage negotiator, Brig. Gen. (res.) Oren Setter, who resigned from the team in October and in a February interview accused Netanyahu of missing two opportunities last year for a hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas. In an interview with the Kan public broadcaster, Setter said that he saw an opportunity, under the current combined military and diplomatic pressure, to reach a comprehensive deal for the return of all hostages, but was “concerned it’s going to be missed — that once again, we’ll end up with a partial agreement.” Setter “undermined government policy through deliberate leaks and biased briefings from within the cabinet that harmed the negotiations, endangered our hostages and echoed Hamas’s false propaganda,” wrote the PMO, reiterating its February denial of his statements. “His claims that an agreement could have been reached earlier are completely baseless. As senior American officials have repeatedly testified, Hamas refused for many months to enter negotiations and was the sole obstacle to a deal,” the statement said. The reports come as the IDF significantly ramped up its military pressure in the Gaza Strip after launching its offensive dubbed “Gideon’s Chariots,” which will seek to “seize strategic areas” of the Hamas-run Strip. According to Israeli officials, the operation aims to seize strategic areas of the Strip, target Hamas, prevent the terror group from taking control of humanitarian aid supplies, and move Palestinians from northern to southern Gaza. Gaza’s Hamas-run authorities reported that widespread Israeli airstrikes have killed over 400 people since Thursday, including 100 people over Saturday night. The tolls cannot be verified and do not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel has blocked the entry of medical, food and fuel supplies into Gaza since the start of March to try to pressure Hamas into freeing Israeli hostages and has approved plans that could involve seizing the entire Gaza Strip and controlling aid. Mediators Egypt and Qatar, backed by the US, began a new round of indirect talks with Hamas on Saturday. However, sources close to the negotiations told Reuters there had been no breakthrough. A Hamas official told the news agency: “Israel’s position is unchanged, they want their prisoners released, without a commitment to end the war.” However, US hostage envoy Adam Boehler said Hamas’s release of American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander last week was a “sign” that the terror group “understands” that it needs to release hostages “if they want this barrage of attacks to stop.” Boehler told ‘Fox News Sunday’ that hostage negotiations in Doha are very “fluid,” denying reports that they were not going well. At the same time, far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who has been a major opponent of any ceasefire deal, expressed his opposition to the negotiations in Doha and emphasized that no deal had been reached in a radio interview: “If we don’t collapse Hamas, if we don’t go to war until the end, this government has no right to exist.” “If our hostages don’t eat — there is no reason in the world for us to introduce humanitarian aid. It’s a mistake to make a deal right now and it’s a mistake to give humanitarian aid,” he said. Ben Gvir also tweeted: “A framework to end the war without defeating Hamas will not come to pass.” Potentially complicating the ceasefire talks further, a series of Israeli airstrikes last week killed Muhammad Sinwar, the de facto commander of Hamas in Gaza, according to reports on Sunday that said his body was found in a Khan Younis tunnel. His brother Yahya Sinwar, the former Hamas leader in Gaza, was killed last October, and another brother, Zakaria Sinwar, was reportedly killed in an airstrike Saturday. Senior Hamas official denies CNN report that group will release 7-9 hostages for 60-day truce [IsraelTimes] Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri tells the Qatari Al Jazeera channel that a CNN report claiming Hamas is willing to release nine hostages in exchange for a two-month ceasefire is false. The report had cited an unnamed Hamas official. Abu Zuhri further claims that Hamas is prepared to release all the hostages in one phase, on the condition that Israel agrees to end the war with international guarantees. He accuses Israel of trying to “confuse the public” with false reports in order to pressure Hamas. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |