Israel-Hamas war: Netanyahu rejects Hamas’s ‘delusional’ hostage release terms

Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu has rejected as “delusional” Hamas’s conditions for a deal to release the hostages it holds in Gaza, warning that accepting the terms would lead to “another massacre”.

In a press conference on Wednesday night, Mr Netanyahu instead vowed to continue Israel’s military offensive in Gaza until “total victory” was secured, saying his country would achieve this “within months”.

“We won’t settle for less,” he said. “Surrendering to Hamas’s delusional demands ... will not only not lead to the release of the hostages, but will invite another massacre.”

Mr Netanyahu insisted that only military pressure on Hamas would ensure the release of the roughly 130 Israelis still held by the group, including the bodies of some believed to have died.

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He said he had told US secretary of state Antony Blinken – who held meetings with senior Israeli officials on Wednesday as part of a visit to several Middle Eastern countries – that after Hamas was toppled, “we will make sure Gaza is demilitarised forever”.

Mr Blinken’s visit, during which he also met Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, is part of an intense diplomatic push led by the US and Qatar aiming to bring home the hostages and ultimately end the war.

[ Netanyahu’s bind: Compromising in Gaza or holding on to power at home ]

The US’s top diplomat said earlier this week that a hostage deal was the “best path to get an extended period of calm” in Gaza and was “indeed essential”.

Earlier on Wednesday, he added the US was looking “intensely” at Hamas’s proposal. “There’s a lot of work to be done, but we are very much focused on doing that work and hopefully, being able to resume the release of hostages.”

Hamas had demanded a ceasefire lasting four-and-a-half months, an Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza, and the release of at least 1,500 Palestinian prisoners as its price for releasing all the hostages it still holds after its assault on Israel on October 7th.

The group’s proposal came in response to a framework agreement brokered in Paris 10 days ago by officials from the US, Egypt, Qatar and Israel, which was designed to facilitate the release of hostages and a six-week pause in hostilities.

Hamas instead proposed a 135-day pause in fighting and a three-phase release of hostages, which it said would lead to a “complete and sustainable calm”.

After Mr Netanyahu spoke, senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan said at a press conference in Beirut that “Netanyahu’s comments on the ceasefire proposal just now show he intends to pursue conflict in the region”.

“Hamas is prepared to deal with all options,” Mr Hamdan said, adding that a delegation from Hamas’s political wing would visit Cairo to pursue ceasefire talks with Egyptian and Qatari officials.

Hamas killed about 1,200 people and took a further 250 hostage, according to Israeli officials, during its October attack that triggered the war. About 110 of the hostages were released during a brief truce last year.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 27,500 people in Gaza, according to Palestinian officials, as well as displacing 1.7 million of the enclave’s 2.3 million people and rendering huge swaths of the territory uninhabitable.

The debate over a Hamas hostage deal has come to dominate Israeli politics, with relatives of those in captivity demanding that Mr Netanyahu’s rightwing government “pay any price” for the return of their loved ones.

Gadi Eisenkot, a member of Mr Netanyahu’s five-person war cabinet, said last month that the release of the hostages should be the war’s main objective, above the destruction of Hamas.

But Mr Netanyahu’s far-right allies, including firebrand national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, have threatened to withdraw from the five-party governing coalition if a “reckless” deal is agreed. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2024