A US official on Tuesday said “maximalist” remarks attributed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about maintaining control of the Gaza-Egypt border was not helpful to reaching a ceasefire deal with Hamas.

The rebuke from a senior US official traveling with Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the Middle East, requesting anonymity to talk about sensitive discussions, came after Netanyahu reportedly told hardline relatives of hostages and bereaved families that “Israel won’t leave the Philadelphi Corridor and the Netzarim Corridor under any circumstances.”

Netanyahu has insisted that Israel will not withdraw from the areas in Gaza and that troops must be stationed there for strategic and security reasons, including, preventing weapons smuggling and the return of armed Gazans from the south to north of the Strip, as well as allowing the military the freedom to maneuver through the enclave. Earlier this week, Israeli negotiators were said to have told the prime minister that this condition was dooming the deal.

“Maximalist statements like this are not constructive to getting a ceasefire deal across the finish line,” said the official, who also denied an Axios report that said Netanyahu might have managed to convince the top US diplomat on the issue.

“The only thing Secretary Blinken and the United States are convinced of is the need for getting a ceasefire proposal across the finish line,” a senior administration official told reporters en route to Doha. Blinken is set to meet with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani following stops in Egypt and Israel.

The Philadelphi Corridor runs along the Gaza-Egypt border, while the Netzarim Corridor bisects Gaza’s north and south.

According to a statement by the Gvura Forum, which represents some families of slain soldiers, Netanyahu told the group Tuesday that he’s “not sure there will be a deal,” and that any deal would “safeguard Israel’s interests.”

Meanwhile, an unnamed source in the Israeli negotiating team also accused Netanyahu of sabotaging the talks with his Tuesday remarks, the Kan public broadcaster reported.

“Netanyahu’s statement is intended to blow up the negotiations, there’s no other way about it,” the source told Kan. “The prime minister knows that we are in a critical period during which we’re working on solutions for the Philadelphi Corridor and Netzarim ahead of the next summit.”

“He knows there is progress — and then he puts out statements that are the opposite of what was agreed upon with the mediators,” the source added.

One of the major gaps in negotiations that the US, Egypt, and Qatari mediators are trying to address concerns the deployment of IDF troops along the Philadelphi Corridor. Netanyahu has insisted on maintaining an IDF presence there to prevent the smuggling of weapons — a demand Hamas rejects. The terror group has said it will not tolerate any Israeli presence in the area whatsoever.

Despite the characterization of the prime minister’s remarks as “maximalist,” The New York Times reported that a new US “bridging proposal” for a hostage release-ceasefire deal would allow a reduced number of Israeli troops to continue to patrol part of the Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border, citing officials familiar with the negotiations.

Channel 12 reported Tuesday that the proposal has been conveyed to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. However, officials told the Times that the suggestion of a limited IDF presence is likely to be shot down by Hamas due to its long-held condition for an Israeli withdrawal.

It added that Egypt has also expressed displeasure, and Egyptian officials have warned that the extended presence of Israeli troops would pose national security concerns for Cairo.

The officials said that another of Netanyahu’s other “non-negotiable” demands also posed issues at the talks in Doha over the weekend, after the US asked to delay in-depth conversations regarding Israel’s demand to screen displaced Palestinians returning to the northern part of the Strip, to ensure they aren’t carrying weapons.

For now, the Biden administration has maintained that Netanyahu is, in fact, sticking with the latest bridging proposal submitted by the US on Friday.

Meanwhile, the US official does acknowledge to The Times of Israel that there’s concern from both sides regarding the implementation of the deal.

Netanyahu’s position has been criticized in Israel, with Opposition Leader Yair Lapid calling for an immediate deal before the hostages “all die.”

“Enough with the briefings, enough with the tweets,” Lapid wrote on X. “All of Netanyahu’s attempts to sabotage the negotiations should stop. A deal now, before they all die.”

Hundreds of protesters blocked traffic as they gathered on Begin Road in Tel Aviv Tuesday evening to demonstrate for a hostage deal, following the recovery of the bodies of six hostages in an overnight operation, all of whom were abducted alive on October 7.

Protesters holding images of Avraham Munder, Alex Dancyg, Chaim Peri, Yagev Buchshtab, Yoram Metzger, and Nadav Popplewel marched behind a banner reading “Netanyahu is sacrificing the hostages.”

Activists also wrote the names of hostages on the road, and chanted that the “blood of the hostages are on the hands of the government of horrors.”

Meanwhile, Israeli officials revealed that negotiators had the chance to secure the release of elderly men being held by Hamas during the weeklong truce in November, but turned it down fearing that would jeopardize efforts to free the remaining women hostages.

Negotiators now say they are unsure that the decision to accept only the release of women and children, rather than men, during the weeklong truce was the right choice to have made, Channel 12 reported Tuesday evening.

The November truce broke down after seven days, when Hamas claimed it was unable to release more civilian women and children, and said it could instead release hostages from other categories, namely civilian men.

Israel refused, saying that it would violate the terms of the negotiated deal, as it knew that, at that point, the terror group was still holding roughly 17 women and two children.

Now, speaking to Channel 12, an anonymous source who was involved in the negotiations for the truce, said that the issue of whether or not to allow Hamas to change up the terms of the deal was “a very difficult moral dilemma.”

“We didn’t know then that we had sealed the fate of the elderly,” the source was quoted as saying. “But de facto, we could have perhaps released them, and they died.”

The report added that National Unity MK Gadi Eisenkot, who had been an observer in the now-disbanded war cabinet, had spoken in favor of allowing Hamas to violate the terms of the agreement and instead release the men, arguing that it would be better than nothing, as it would be months until the opportunity arose again to release the hostages — men or women.

It is believed that 105 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.

Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that. Seven hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 30 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military as they tried to escape their captors.

Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.

Jacob Magid contributed to this report.