IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir said Sunday that the military has created the conditions in Gaza for a hostage deal with the Hamas terror group, reportedly adding behind closed doors that the government must accept the proposal that’s currently on offer.

Senior Israeli officials, however, said the phased-release framework that Hamas said it accepted last week is no longer relevant.

“There is a deal on the table, it’s the improved Witkoff framework [proposed by the US Mideast envoy],” Zamir said while visiting the Haifa naval base, according to Channel 13 news. He reportedly said that “now it’s in Netanyahu’s hands,” and that “there is great danger to the lives of the hostages in taking over Gaza City.”

In official remarks released by the Israel Defense Forces, Zamir said the military has met the objectives of its “Gideon’s Chariots” operation against Hamas in Gaza, “and as a result of the military pressure, we created the conditions for the release of the hostages.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to convene the security cabinet on Tuesday to discuss Gaza and efforts to reach a hostage deal, Channel 12 reported on Monday evening. The TV network said that it will be decided either Monday or Tuesday where the new round of negotiations is to be held, though their timing and the make-up of the team are still not determined.

Previous rounds of negotiations throughout the 22-month war have taken place in Egypt and Qatar, countries that have played key roles as intermediaries between Israel and the terror group.

According to Channel 12, the next round of talks may take place in the United Arab Emirates, or possibly in Europe. Also to be decided, according to the TV report, is whether the composition of the delegation will be any different from the group that went to Qatar last month before that round of talks collapsed. Mossad director David Barnea, who participated in previous negotiations, may return to the team, the network reported.

The premier said last week that he had issued instructions for an Israeli negotiating team to pursue a comprehensive deal with Hamas, after the terror group — having repeatedly rejected the so-called Witkoff framework for a ceasefire and phased hostage release — said it had accepted the proposal.

The terror group’s announcement came days after Netanyahu — who’d long pushed for the Witkoff framework — said he would no longer accept a partial agreement, and would only negotiate for the release of all the hostages together.

Hamas’s purported acceptance of the Witkoff deal also came in the wake of Jerusalem’s approval of a plan to take over Gaza City — a plan that Zamir is reported to have strongly opposed behind the scenes, citing danger to the remaining hostages, of whom 20-22 are believed to be alive.

Retired generals, opposition lawmakers and citizens in support of a hostage deal have all warned publicly that Hamas guards could murder captives if Israeli troops draw near, as the terror group has done to other hostages in the past. Family members of slain hostages whose bodies are held in the Strip have also warned that a Gaza City takeover could prevent the retrieval of their loved ones’ remains.

The military, however, has started active preparations for the new offensive. Thousands of reservists have been called up for the operation and are expected to report for duty September 2, with the maneuver to begin in the following weeks.

In a statement Sunday night, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said, “The IDF chief of staff is saying what the majority of the nation is demanding: A comprehensive deal for the return of the 50 hostages and an end to the war.

“Like the entire nation of Israel, so too the IDF chief of staff does not want another ‘cleared for publication’ [announcement of a fallen soldier] but rather the return of our brothers and sisters from Gaza,” the group said.

“Netanyahu, the time has come to realize the will of the nation. You have no mandate to continue this forever war. You have no mandate to sacrifice the hostages, the soldiers, and the citizens of Israel.”

Meanwhile senior Israeli officials speaking anonymously said Monday that Israel will not accept the Witkoff framework, having already moved on from so-called “partial” deals, i.e. phased releases that would see some captives released on different dates during an initial, temporary ceasefire, and would only see the remaining captives freed after an agreement has been reached to permanently end the war.

“We moved on from [the Witkoff framework] and sent a determined message. The coming agreements with Hamas will only be for all the hostages and an end to the war on conditions that Israel is willing to accept,” the officials said, according to Channel 12.

Netanyahu said earlier this month that Israel will only pursue a comprehensive deal to free all the hostages and to return the bodies of all the slain hostages, in one release, in exchange for an end to the war that is acceptable to Israel.

According to Netanyahu, the war must end with Hamas’s disarmament, the Strip’s demilitarization, and a new civilian government in the territory that is neither the terror group nor the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority.

Additionally, the senior officials said, “There is no connection between the efforts to reach a deal and the offensive [to take over Gaza City]. The Gaza City takeover will get underway once the evacuation process has exhausted itself.

“The talks will not stop the offensive; rather, the opposite — the offensive will accelerate the talks,” they said, according to Channel 12.

Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are holding 50 hostages, including 49 of the 251 abducted by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023. They include the bodies of at least 28 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.

Emanuel Fabian and Lazar Berman contributed to this report.