IDF Chief Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir pleaded with cabinet ministers during a meeting this week to present a strategy for how they want the army to proceed amid the standstill in hostage talks, Channel 12 news reported Friday, highlighting the government’s lack of clear game-plan as Jerusalem’s diplomatic standing plummets due to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Israel has reportedly considered annexing parts of Gaza in an attempt to pressure Hamas to release hostages, but no decision has been made yet. Strategy was discussed during US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff’s meetings in Jerusalem on Thursday.
Visiting troops in the Gaza Strip, Zamir said he assessed “that in the coming days we will know whether we will be able to reach a partial deal to release our hostages.”
“If not, the fighting will continue unabated,” Zamir he added.
Hostage talks have been at an impasse since last week when Israel and the US pulled their negotiators from Doha due to frustration with Hamas’s response to the latest proposal for a partial hostage deal.
Arab mediators have told The Times of Israel that while Hamas’s response slowed progress that had been made, the gaps are still bridgeable.
A senior Israeli official familiar with the talks told The Times of Israel on Friday that if Israel and the US abandon their efforts to reach the phased hostages deal that they’ve been negotiating for months with Hamas, it will take “a long time” to reach an understanding on a comprehensive deal to release all of the hostages in exchange for ending the war.
An Israeli source quoted Friday by the Haaretz daily expressed deep pessimism about the prospects for a broader agreement, saying there was little chance Hamas would accept Israel’s conditions for ending the war.
The deal currently on the table would only see the release of 28 of the 50 hostages during the two-month truce under discussion. The remainder would only be released if Israel and Hamas reach an agreement during those 60 days on terms for a permanent ceasefire.
However, after Witkoff’s meetings Thursday, a senior Israeli official told reporters that Israel and the United States are now aligned on aiming for a comprehensive framework in place of another partial ceasefire and hostage-release deal.
If actualized, the new stance would mark a major shift for Israel, which came up with the phased hostage deal framework during the first year of the war, as it enabled Israel to secure the release of some of its hostages, while maintaining the ability to resume the war — something Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu needed to maintain his coalition, as far-right partners threatened to collapse the government if Israel agreed to a permanent ceasefire.
Hamas, for its part, has offered the release of all remaining hostages in exchange for an end to the war, while rejecting calls to disarm. Netanyahu has also argued that prematurely ending the war would leave Hamas in power and able to regroup.
According to the senior Israeli official briefing reporters, there has been a “breakdown in contacts” with Hamas negotiators. “Hamas has cut off communication… There is no one to talk to on the other side. This is also Witkoff’s understanding.”
The official also noted that Jerusalem and Washington will work to increase humanitarian assistance while continuing the fighting in Gaza, where Witkoff visited Friday amid growing international concern and criticism regarding the current US- and Israel-backed aid distribution system.
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.