Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Hamas had rejected all elements of a proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza that would lead to the release of hostages.
“Hamas has rejected everything … I hope that changes, because I want to get those hostages out,” Netanyahu said at a news conference, expressing doubt over whether there would be a breakthrough, a day after the State Department said “it’s time to finalize this deal.”
“We are trying to find a way to start negotiations,” Netanyahu said.
“They (Hamas) refused to do so… (they said) there is nothing to talk about on this subject.”
Domestic and international pressure has increased on Netanyahu to finalise a deal to release Israeli hostages after authorities on Sunday announced the deaths of six people whose bodies were recovered from a tunnel in southern Gaza.
On Monday, Netanyahu said the Israeli military would maintain control of the Philadelphia Corridor on the Egypt-Gaza border, and vowed not to “succumb to pressure” on the issue.
Hamas, which launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, is demanding a full Israeli withdrawal from the region under stalled talks brokered by the United States, Qatar and Egypt.
At Wednesday’s news conference, Netanyahu reiterated his stance on the Philadelphia corridor, saying handing over control would allow Hamas to smuggle weapons and send hostages and “terrorists” out.
“You need to do something to put pressure on them, to stop them, to put pressure on them to release the remaining hostages,” he said.
“If you want to release the hostages, you must take control of the Philadelphia corridor.”
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters on Wednesday that Washington “understands the real need that Israel has to ensure that smuggling does not occur through the Philadelphia corridor,” but added “we believe there are ways to resolve this issue.”
“The Israeli government will need to be flexible in order to reach an agreement, just as Hamas will also need to find a way to eventually say yes,” Miller said.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu said he is “flexible when possible” and “firm when necessary”.
– ‘The whole case’ remains unresolved –
He also emphasized that the debate over the Philadelphia Corridor is not the only issue.
He said other questions also remained unanswered: how many Palestinian prisoners would be released in exchange for the hostages, whether Israel could veto the release of some prisoners, and where the released prisoners should go.
“The entire matter is not yet resolved,” he said.
According to official Israeli figures, the Hamas attack on 7 October killed 1,205 people, most of them civilians, including some hostages who were murdered.
Of the 251 hostages taken by Palestinian militants during the offensive, 97 remain in Gaza, 33 of whom the Israeli military says are dead. Many were released during a week-long ceasefire in November – the only one to date.
At least 40,861 people have been killed so far in Israel’s retaliatory military offensive in Gaza, according to the Hamas-ruled territory’s health ministry.
According to the United Nations Human Rights Office, most of the dead are women and children.
Protests have erupted in several Israeli cities this week, with Netanyahu’s critics blaming him for the deaths of the hostages and saying he has refused to make concessions needed for a ceasefire deal.
US President Joe Biden said this week that he did not think Netanyahu was working hard enough to free the hostages.
Also on Wednesday, an Israeli right-wing minister increased pressure on Netanyahu to end Gaza ceasefire talks altogether.
“A country whose six hostages are brutally murdered does not negotiate with the killers but instead ends dialogue, stops the transfer of fuel and electricity, and crushes them until they are destroyed,” National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir wrote on the social media platform X.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)