Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly changed some of the terms of a recent U.S.-backed ceasefire agreement, according to Israeli media.
Netanyahu is facing continued pressure to agree to a deal that would secure the release of the hostages after Israeli forces recovered the bodies of six who had been executed shortly beforehand last weekend. Several thousand Israelis protested in the streets, while other Israeli government leaders echoed their calls for the prime minister to get a deal finalized.
Israel presented a proposal for a deal in late May, only for Netanyahu to renege on some of the details more recently. He maintains that he has only clarified his positions, not changed them, according to Ynet .
The prime minister presented Israel’s team of negotiators on July 7 with four non-negotiable demands that would need to be included in a deal and then presented a new outline on July 27 that included Israel keeping a military presence along the Philadelphi Corridor instead of the original phased withdrawal of Israeli forces. Other modifications include the creation of a checkpoint for unarmed residents returning to northern Gaza, a specific list of hostages who will be freed instead of general parameters, and a stipulation that the Palestinian detainees released in the deal be released abroad, and not in Gaza.
There are believed to be about 100 hostages still being held by Hamas and possibly other terrorist groups in Gaza. They have been held for more than 330 days, dating back to their kidnapping on Oct. 7, 2023.
Despite those calls, the Israeli prime minister stood firm on his stance about not sacrificing Israel's long-term national security to secure the release of the hostages. In particular, Netanyahu has demanded that Israel keep forces along the Philadelphi Corridor, which runs along the Gaza-Egyptian border.
Israeli forces operating in southern Gaza have discovered dozens of tunnels in the area that they believe Hamas has used to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip and, if left intact, could serve as a lifeline for Hamas's survival and resurgence.
"The Philadelphi Corridor is of cardinal importance both in bringing the hostages and ensuring that Hamas will be crushed and that Gaza will never again constitute a threat to us," Netanyahu said Monday. "I want to make it clear: I am flexible where I can be flexible. I am not insistent where I can be flexible, and I am not flexible where I must be insistent. On this we must all be insistent, otherwise we will receive all of this disaster again."
However, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby indicated on Tuesday that a proposal the Israelis had already agreed to included the removal of Israeli forces from all densely populated areas, "including those areas along the [Philadelphi] corridor."
A senior Israeli official accused Netanyahu of sabotaging the ceasefire deal.
“History will one day judge this document very harshly,” the official said to Ynet. “In my opinion, the most fitting nickname for it is the ‘document of blood,’ because its pages are stained with the blood of the six hostages who were murdered in the tunnel in Rafah.”
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More than 100 hostages were released during a weeklong ceasefire late last November. Hamas has not released any hostages since then, though Israeli forces have recovered several hostages during multiple rescue missions.
Hamas spokesman Abu Obaida indicated after the murders of the six hostages that the Hamas guards securing the hostages had been told to murder them if they believed an Israeli rescue operation was underway. He also warned that additional rescue attempts would lead to the killings of the hostages Israeli forces were attempting to save.
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