[News] Netanyahu thwarted seven Gaza ceasefire deals, Israeli report finds

[Anti-Imperialist News]

middleeasteye.net 
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/netanyahu-thwarted-seven-gaza-ceasefire-deals-israeli-report-finds> 



  Netanyahu thwarted seven Gaza ceasefire deals, Israeli report finds

Nadav Rapaport
August23, 2025
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Over the course of the war on Gaza, Israel 
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel> has repeatedly put up 
roadblocks to ceasefire deals with Hamas, even when the Palestinian 
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/palestine> group accepted its 
conditions, Israel's Channel 13 investigative programme HaMakor reported 
on Friday.

According to senior American 
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/us> and Israeli officials 
interviewed by the programme, Israel blocked a ceasefire agreement on 
seven occasions during nearly two years of its devastating military 
campaign against the besieged enclave.

The officials said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was chiefly 
responsible, often bowing to pressure from far-right ministers, 
including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security 
Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

Matthew Miller, spokesperson for the US State Department under President 
Joe Biden, said that at the start of the war in October 2023, Hamas was 
ready to release "some hostages".

"We have been trying to get through to the government of Israel to tell 
them that," Miller said, but added that Washington could not "get anyone 
in there to take us seriously", referring to the Israeli leadership.

Sources close to the prime minister told a member of the Israeli 
negotiating team, who spoke to Channel 13, that “there will be no deal 
here, these are ISIS terrorists, and their end is death".

Yoav Gallant, Israel's defence minister at the time, told HaMakor that 
he had instructed his subordinates: "No one is talking to Hamas", adding 
that he wanted the group to "come to us" after the Israeli army "put 
their heads under the water" so "they won't be able to breathe".

Gadi Eisenkot, who served on the War Cabinet, said the government 
initially made no effort to secure the captives' release, noting that 
"in the war's goals, there is not a single word about the captives and 
their return". He added that the first ceasefire in November 2023 came 
after Netanyahu and Gallant piled up obstacles.

Eisenkot said the deal could have been extended, but the Israeli 
government refused to move forward unless Hamas committed to releasing 
the remaining women captives.

"We could have brought back seriously wounded and elderly people alive, 
who unfortunately were later murdered or killed," he added.


      Rafah invasion

According to HaMakor, beginning in January 2024, senior Israeli 
officials, including Netanyahu, misled the Israeli media about progress 
towards a deal, even though no understanding with Hamas existed at the time.

<https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/why-israeli-hostage-protests-must-expand-advocate-all-gaza>

Why Israeli hostage protests must expand to advocate for all of Gaza

Read More » 
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/why-israeli-hostage-protests-must-expand-advocate-all-gaza> 


Ceasefire talks were held in Paris in January and February, but sources 
involved in the negotiations told Channel 13 that the government refused 
Hamas's demand to allow displaced Palestinians to return to the northern 
part of the Gaza Strip.

Miller said Israel accepted a US proposal in April 2024, shortly before 
the ground invasion of the southern city of Rafah, for a six-week 
ceasefire. The plan did not require Israel to end the war but was 
intended to halt a military operation in Rafah. Netanyahu's insistence 
that Israel would invade the city regardless, however, complicated the 
talks.

"You can imagine how much harder it made it to get a deal over the line. 
Hamas didn't accept the proposal, and they lost the chief motivation to 
agree to a deal," Miller said.

Israel's invasion of Rafah 
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/gaza-war-israel-sends-additional-brigade-rafah-government-expected-widen-assault?utm_source=chatgpt.com> 
in May 2024 ultimately caused the negotiations to collapse.


      Tailor-made deals

Miller said there was tension between the Biden administration and the 
Israeli government, but it was publicly downplayed because Hamas tended 
to harden its positions in such circumstances.

"There were times when we very much wanted to go public and make clear 
that we thought the prime minister was being completely intransigent and 
making it tougher to reach a deal," he said.

    'Netanyahu is lying when he says, "we are ready for a complete deal
    and an end to the war"'

    /- Einav Zangauker, mother of an Israeli captive/

"But we discussed this among ourselves and decided it wouldn't 
accomplish anything," Miller added, noting that the US never made any 
offer to Hamas that was not acceptable to Israel.

A senior Israeli negotiator told Channel 13 that the Biden 
administration's negotiating style was "relatively soft".

HaMakor reported that every deal between Israel and Hamas "was 
tailor-made to suit the interests of the Israeli government - in other 
words, the prime minister's political interests as well".

In May 2024, Netanyahu approved a proposal that would have ended the 
war, secured the captives' return, and reinstated the Palestinian 
Authority in Gaza, but he withdrew his support 
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israels-attacks-rafah-after-rejecting-latest-ceasefire-deal-accepted-hamas> 
shortly afterwards, according to Eisenkot.

President Joe Biden's speech at the end of that month, in which he 
outlined the Israeli proposal, was intended, Miller said, to prevent 
Netanyahu from backtracking.

"We spent the last few months seeing the government of Israel at times 
trying to sabotage an approach to get to a ceasefire," Miller said. 
"They were always looking for ways to add conditions or make the terms 
more difficult."

<https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/netanyahu-only-ever-saw-hostages-his-path-back-genocide>

Netanyahu only ever saw the hostages as his path back to genocide

Read More » 
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/netanyahu-only-ever-saw-hostages-his-path-back-genocide> 


In the following months, Netanyahu continued to harden his position, 
including insisting on Israeli control over the Philadelphi Corridor 
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/explainers/what-are-philadelphi-netzarim-corridors-why-do-they-matter> 
in southern Gaza.

In January 2025, Israel and Hamas signed a two-phase agreement after 
months of difficult negotiations, during which Israel was reportedly 
unwilling to be flexible on the number of Palestinian prisoners to be 
released, according to HaMakor.

Gallant said the January agreement "is the same as the agreement of July".

"The same agreement, only unfortunately with fewer hostages," he added.

Although the deal was meant to lead to a permanent ceasefire, Miller 
said the Trump administration "didn't really pressure the government of 
Israel to stick to the terms and let the prime minister resume the war" 
when Israel unilaterally ended the ceasefire 
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/how-israel-violate-gaza-ceasefire-new-escalation> 
in March.


      'Fighting this war for decades'

According to Miller, Netanyahu told former US Secretary of State Antony 
Blinken: "We are going to be fighting this war for decades to come. 
That's the way it's been, that's the way it's going to be."

On Monday, Hamas said it had accepted 
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/hamas-accepts-gaza-ceasefire-proposal-set-out-mediators-sources> 
a ceasefire proposal, which, according to Israeli media, met most of the 
demands outlined by President Donald Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff.

<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/bizarre-and-terrifying-israeli-drones-harass-and-attack-gaza-residents-ahead-occupation>

‘Bizarre and terrifying’: Israeli quadcopters harass and attack Gaza 
City residents

Read More » 
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/bizarre-and-terrifying-israeli-drones-harass-and-attack-gaza-residents-ahead-occupation> 


Two days later, however, Israel launched a new assault to seize Gaza 
City 
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/we-are-alone-gaza-city-residents-brace-worst-israeli-assaults-intensify>, 
a move believed to mark the first phase of the full occupation 
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israeli-cabinet-approves-plan-occupy-gaza> 
of the Gaza Strip. Hamas has since accused 
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/hamas-says-launch-gaza-city-assault-shows-israeli-disregard-truce-efforts> 
Israel of deliberately ignoring efforts to reach a ceasefire.

The families of captives also accuse Netanyahu of attempting to block 
the deal.

"Netanyahu has decided to torpedo another deal and seal the fate of 20 
captives and 100 soldiers in Gaza City 
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/hamas-says-launch-gaza-city-assault-shows-israeli-disregard-truce-efforts>," 
said Nimrod Cohen, the brother of a captive soldier, during a 
demonstration in Tel Aviv this week.

"When Hamas wants a partial deal, Netanyahu wants a complete deal - and 
vice versa."

Einav Zangauker, mother of another captive, Matan Zangauker, said at a 
separate demonstration: "Netanyahu is lying when he says, 'we are ready 
for a complete deal and an end to the war'."

"Just like in the last agreement that the Israeli government blew up 
before it reached Stage B, this time too Netanyahu calculated his 
political considerations and decided to blow it up.”

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