Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer has told mediating nations that Israel hasn’t ruled out a partial hostage release deal with Hamas, according to a Tuesday report, despite the consistent and adamant statements to the contrary from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials.
Channel 13 reported that Dermer, himself a key negotiator, told the mediators not to put too much weight on the public remarks coming out of Israel regarding a hostage deal, or Jerusalem’s stated insistence that it is only interested in a comprehensive deal on its own terms, and that it will no longer entertain the possibility of a phased agreement.
It was not clear from the report which of the three main mediators — the United States, Egypt and Qatar — Dermer communicated this to.
According to the report, his remarks left the mediating countries cautiously optimistic about the possibility of resuming negotiations in the not-too-distant future.
Last month, Hamas said it had agreed to the partial ceasefire-hostage release deal that was almost identical to one Israel had previously approved, but Jerusalem has not yet responded to proposal and Netanyahu has not brought it before the cabinet for deliberation, reportedly saying Sunday that the deal is “not on the table.”
Netanyahu has said that he has officially given up on phased deals, demanding a comprehensive agreement to return all the captives in one go and see Hamas surrender and demilitarize.
The phased deal — which Hamas said it agreed to on August 18 — would see 10 living hostages released and the remains of 18 dead hostages returned, in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners and some 1,000 Gazan detainees, and a 60-day ceasefire, during which negotiations would be held for the return of the remaining 20 hostages, of whom 10-12 are believed to be alive, and a permanent end to the war.
As Israel moves ahead with its planned military takeover of Gaza City, Qatar on Tuesday urged Israel to accept the deal on the table, and warned that the plan endangers everyone, including the hostages.
Speaking at a press conference, Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said: “The dangerous step Israel is taking, invading Gaza City, given the dense population and the worsening humanitarian situation, will cause the deaths of hundreds of civilians.”
It will “endanger everybody, including the hostages,” he added.
Al-Ansari also addressed the deadlock in negotiations on a hostage-ceasefire deal, adding: “All the efforts to get the negotiations moving have run into a lack of cooperation from Israel. So far, there has been no answer from Israel [to the latest proposal]. And to get to an agreement of one kind or another, there must be readiness from Israel for an agreement.”
In an interview published Tuesday with The Times of Israel from Doha, al-Ansari similarly warned: “The occupation of Gaza City, which will have catastrophic humanitarian results, is not going to push any side toward a deal… We told the Israelis that they are putting their hostages, their people, at risk without having a strategic view of what they want to do.”
Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are holding 48 hostages, including 47 of the 251 abducted by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023. They include the bodies of at least 26 confirmed dead by the IDF. Twenty are believed to be alive and there are grave concerns for the well-being of two others, Israeli officials have said. Hamas is also holding the body of an IDF soldier killed in Gaza in 2014.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 62,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed over 22,000 combatants in battle as of August and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught.
Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.
Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 460. The toll includes two police officers and three Defense Ministry civilian contractors.
Nurit Yohanan contributed to this report.