Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed yesterday that he’s not interested in a partial deal with Hamas. “You heard President Trump,” Netanyahu said when asked in an interview with i24 News if the possibility of forging a partial ceasefire and hostage release deal is still open, reported the Times of Israel. “I think it’s behind us.”
Not long afterwards, ToI cited Channel 12 reporting that Israel is weighing whether to send negotiators to Doha this week for meetings on the possibility of a comprehensive Gaza deal, to include the release of all hostages, an end to the war, a full IDF withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and arrangements for Gaza’s post-war governance. At the asme time, senior Hamas officials are meeting with top Egyptian intelligence officials to discuss a comprehensive deal, the network says, following other similar reports over the last two days.
Basem Naim, a senior Hamas official and a former minister in the Palestinian government in Gaza, told Dropsite News: “We are ready to go for a partial deal, or even for a comprehensive deal. But it is about the seriousness—how committed Israel is, and also the Americans—to reach a deal to end this war, but not to use negotiations as an umbrella for other evil plans.”
Naim reiterated that Hamas will not release any more Israeli captives outside of a deal that ensures a total end to the war and a withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. “The U.S. has given the Israelis all the time. They have given them all the support, political support, diplomatic support, financial support, military support, intelligence support, and the Israelis have failed to accomplish the mission,” Naim said. “They have failed to retrieve their soldiers or the captured Israelis. They have failed to crush the resistance. They have failed to force the evacuation of Palestinians. They have failed to create an alternative to Hamas, because it is clear it is not about Hamas, it is not about some prisoners. It is about people who want to live again, free and dignified, like any people around the world. Therefore, there’s no alternative to a just and fair negotiating table.”
