Netanyahu: ‘Not certain there will be a deal,’ Hamas accuses US of bias toward Israel

PM reiterates: Israel will not vacate Gaza-Egypt border

Read this article in:

“It’s not certain that there will be a deal,” Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told families of hostages and bereaved families during a meeting in Jerusalem on Tuesday.

The statements came as Netanyahu received members of the Gvura Forum, an organization of families of fallen members of the security forces, and the Tikvah Forum, a more hawkish organization of hostage families than the better-known and politically left-leaning Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

Netanyahu stressed that he was striving to create conditions that would “allow for the maximum number of hostages being released in the first stage of the deal,” he said.

“I say this clearly: This is an objective that I have set.”

The Tikvah Forum and some more hawkish hostage families reject a hostage deal that would only free some hostages in the first phase of a deal, keeping other hostages in captivity even as the agreement is widely expected to falter before reaching its last phase.

Meeting attendees told Israeli media that Netanyahu made it clear he had informed U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Israel would not withdraw from “the strategic assets it obtained during the war.”

“The other thing is to preserve our strategic security assets in the face of major domestic and foreign pressure, and we are doing so,” Netanyahu added, referring to the Philadelphi Corridor, which runs along the Gaza-Egypt border and the Netzarim Corridor, cutting off northern Gaza from the rest of the strip.

Netanyahu has reiterated his insistence that Israel will not withdraw from these areas. The Times of Israel reported that Blinken indicated that he understood Netanyahu’s position during their Monday meeting.

The issue has been one of the main points of contention in the current talks, and was cited by Hamas as a reason it has rejected the latest hostage deal proposal.

“The first thing is to eliminate Hamas and achieve victory. We are approaching this step by step,” the prime minister said. “If, three months ago, before we went into Rafah, they said there is nothing that can be done – there is a lot to do. In the meantime, we have eliminated [Mohammed] Deif and other commanders as well.”

“We seized the Philadelphi Corridor and the Rafah Crossing. We are using all necessary force to dismantle Hamas's rule and its military capability, and this is moving forward.”

“The second thing is that we are, at the same time, making an effort to return the hostages,” Netanyahu emphasized.

The success of the latest round of negotiations, which the mediating countries had described with great optimism, now seems to be in question, after Hamas rejected the deal and U.S. President Joe Biden confirmed that Hamas leadership was “backing away.”

On Tuesday, Hamas hit back, accusing the U.S. of “complete bias” toward Israel. Biden's comments constituted an “American green light for the Zionist extremist government to commit more crimes against defenseless civilians,” Hamas said.

The terror group called on the U.S. to reverse its "partnership" with Israel and "work seriously" toward stopping the war in Gaza.

At the start of the meeting, Yehoshua Shani, chairman of the Gvura Forum, presented Netanyahu with a photo of his son alongside the son of Zivka Mor, a leading member of the Tikva Forum, taken when they were both 10 years old.

While Shani’s son Uri was killed on Oct. 7 at the IDF’s Kissufim military base, Eitan Mor was kidnapped into the Gaza Strip.

“The photo was taken the year the Shalit deal was signed. While you, the media, pushed for the Shalit deal and celebrated, at the same time disaster was brewing on October 7,” said Shani.

The Shalit deal, signed by Netanyahu in 2011, was an agreement with Hamas that secured the release of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners, among them Yahya Sinwar, who is now the top leader of Hamas.

“Today we call on the prime minister: No to a second Shalit deal, no to a deal that would set back Israel’s security. We will make a deal, but a deal that will not harm the nation’s security,” Shani stated.