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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that his government was considering “options alternatives” at the cease-fire talks with Hamas, after Israel and the United States have recalled their Qatar negotiation teamsthus throwing a new uncertainty over the future of negotiations.
The declaration of the head of the Israeli government has intervened as a manager of Hamas announced that Negotiations should resume next week And described the withdrawal of Israeli and American delegations as a means of pressure.
The teams left Doha Thursdaywhile the special envoy of President Donald Trump, Steve Witkoff, said that Hamas’ last response to the proposals of agreement showed a “Lack of will” to reach a truce.
Steve Witkoff said the United States would examine “options alternatives”without giving more details.
In a statement published by his office, Benjamin Netanyahu echoed the American special envoy by declaring that “Hamas is the obstacle to a hostage liberation agreement”.
“With our American allies, we are now considering other options to bring our hostages home, put an end to the Hamas terror regime and guarantee lasting peace for Israel and our region”he said.
He has not given more details On what these other options could be. The Israeli government has also not answered the question of whether the negotiations would resume next week.
An official of Hamas, Bassem Naim, said on Friday that the group had been informed that the Israeli delegation had returned home for consultations and thatShe would come back at the beginning of next week To resume negotiations on the ceasefire.
Hamas pressure
Hamas said Steve Witkoff’s remarks were intended to put pressure on the group for the benefit of Benjamin Netanyahu in the next negotiation cycle and that in recent days, negotiations had progressed.
Bassem Naim said several questions had been almost resolved, such as the agenda of the ceasefire, the guarantees to continue negotiations with a view to reaching a permanent agreement and the methods of transporting humanitarian aid.
The two parties held weeks of negotiations in Qatar, reporting small signs of progress, but without major breakthrough.
Officials said that the redeployment of Israeli troops after a possible ceasefire was one of the main stumbling blocks.
The agreement under discussion should include An initial 60-day ceasefire During which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and the remains of 18 others in stages, in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
The delivery of the aid would be accelerated and the two parties would negotiate a lasting cease-fire.
The talks have bogged down due to divergent requirements concerning the end of the war. Hamas affirms that it will only release all the hostages in exchange for a total withdrawal from Israel and the end of the war.
Israel says he will not accept to end the conflict until Hamas will abandon power And will not disarm. The militant group says it is ready to leave power but not to return its weapons.
Hamas would hold hostages in different places, especially in tunnels, and claims to have ordered its guards to kill them if the Israeli forces approached.
About fifty hostages are still in Gazabut less than half of them would be alive. Their families say that the trades that are linked are unbearable.
“I thought that something would perhaps happen during the period when the Israeli team in charge of negotiations was in Doha”, said Yehuda Cohen, whose son, Nimrod, is retained hostage.
When I learned that they came back, I wondered: “When will this nightmare end? When will this nightmare end?”
Worsening of the humanitarian situation
The Trump government has failed to obtain a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas, while the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate in Gaza.
Israel is subject to growing pressures while Hunger among the more than 2 million inhabitants of Gaza has worsened And that deaths related to malnutrition have accelerated.
In recent days, more than twenty countries aligned with the West and More than a hundred charitable and human rights organizations called at the end of the war, severely criticizing the blockade of Israel and the new model of transporting the aid he has put in place.
Charitable organizations and human rights groups have said that even their own staff had trouble getting enough food.
