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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Netanyahu thwarted seven Gaza
ceasefire deals, Israeli report finds</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Nadav
Rapaport</div>
<div class="gmail-meta-data">
<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time">August23, 2025</div>
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<p>Over the course of the war on Gaza, <a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">Israel</a> has repeatedly
put up roadblocks to ceasefire deals with Hamas,
even when the <a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/palestine" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">Palestinian</a> group
accepted its conditions, Israel's Channel 13
investigative programme HaMakor reported on Friday.</p>
<p>According to senior <a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/us"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">American</a>
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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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".</p>
<p>"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.</p>
<p>Sources close to the prime minister told a member
of the Israeli negotiating team, who spoke to
Channel 13, that \u201cthere will be no deal here, these
are ISIS terrorists, and their end is death".</p>
<p>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".</p>
<p dir="LTR">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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>"We could have brought back seriously wounded and
elderly people alive, who unfortunately were later
murdered or killed," he added.</p>
<h3>Rafah invasion</h3>
<p dir="LTR">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.</p>
<div>
<p><a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/why-israeli-hostage-protests-must-expand-advocate-all-gaza"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"><img
src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/images-story/israel-protest-hostages-gaza-tel-aviv-august-2025-jack-guez-afp.jpg.webp?itok=1Bcjzpko"
width="400" height="250" alt=""
class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img"
moz-do-not-send="true">
</a></p>
<p><font size="1">Why Israeli hostage protests must
expand to advocate for all of Gaza</font></p>
<p><font size="1"><a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/why-israeli-hostage-protests-must-expand-advocate-all-gaza"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">Read
More »</a></font>
</p>
</div>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>"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.</p>
<p>Israel's <a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/gaza-war-israel-sends-additional-brigade-rafah-government-expected-widen-assault?utm_source=chatgpt.com"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">invasion of
Rafah</a> in May 2024 ultimately caused the
negotiations to collapse.</p>
<h3 dir="LTR">Tailor-made deals</h3>
<p dir="LTR">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.</p>
<p>"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.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>'Netanyahu is lying when he says, "we are ready
for a complete deal and an end to the war"'</p>
<p><em>- Einav Zangauker, mother of an Israeli
captive</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>"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.</p>
<p>A senior Israeli negotiator told Channel 13 that
the Biden administration's negotiating style was
"relatively soft".</p>
<p>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".</p>
<p dir="LTR">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 <a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israels-attacks-rafah-after-rejecting-latest-ceasefire-deal-accepted-hamas"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">withdrew
his support</a> shortly afterwards, according to
Eisenkot.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>"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."</p>
<div>
<p><a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/netanyahu-only-ever-saw-hostages-his-path-back-genocide"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"><img
src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/images-story/Israeli%20Prime%20Minister%20Benjamin%20Netanyahu%20attends%20his%20trial%20on%20corruption%20charges%20at%20the%20district%20court%20in%20Tel%20Aviv%2C%20Israel%2C%2012%20February%202025-reuters.jpg.webp?itok=II2m7qQl"
width="400" height="250" alt=""
class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img"
moz-do-not-send="true">
</a></p>
<p><font size="1">Netanyahu only ever saw the
hostages as his path back to genocide</font></p>
<p><font size="1"><a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/netanyahu-only-ever-saw-hostages-his-path-back-genocide"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">Read
More »</a></font>
</p>
</div>
<p>In the following months, Netanyahu continued to
harden his position, including insisting on Israeli
control over <a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/explainers/what-are-philadelphi-netzarim-corridors-why-do-they-matter"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">the
Philadelphi Corridor</a> in southern Gaza.</p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>Gallant said the January agreement "is the same as
the agreement of July".</p>
<p>"The same agreement, only unfortunately with fewer
hostages," he added.</p>
<p>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 <a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/how-israel-violate-gaza-ceasefire-new-escalation"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">Israel
unilaterally ended the ceasefire</a> in March.</p>
<h3>'Fighting this war for decades'</h3>
<p>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."</p>
<p>On Monday, Hamas said it had <a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/hamas-accepts-gaza-ceasefire-proposal-set-out-mediators-sources"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">accepted</a>
a ceasefire proposal, which, according to Israeli
media, met most of the demands outlined by President
Donald Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff.</p>
<div>
<p><a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/bizarre-and-terrifying-israeli-drones-harass-and-attack-gaza-residents-ahead-occupation"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"><img
src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/images-story/000_723K4CT%20%281%29.jpg.webp?itok=HmT359dF"
width="400" height="250" alt=""
class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img"
moz-do-not-send="true">
</a></p>
<p><font size="1">\u2018Bizarre and terrifying\u2019: Israeli
quadcopters harass and attack Gaza City
residents</font></p>
<p><font size="1"><a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/bizarre-and-terrifying-israeli-drones-harass-and-attack-gaza-residents-ahead-occupation"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">Read
More »</a></font>
</p>
</div>
<p>Two days later, however, Israel launched a new
assault to seize <a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/we-are-alone-gaza-city-residents-brace-worst-israeli-assaults-intensify"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">Gaza City</a>,
a move believed to mark the first phase of <a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israeli-cabinet-approves-plan-occupy-gaza"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">the full
occupation</a> of the Gaza Strip. Hamas has since
<a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/hamas-says-launch-gaza-city-assault-shows-israeli-disregard-truce-efforts"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">accused</a>
Israel of deliberately ignoring efforts to reach a
ceasefire.</p>
<p dir="LTR">The families of captives also
accuse Netanyahu of attempting to block the deal.</p>
<p dir="LTR">"Netanyahu has decided to torpedo another
deal and seal the fate of 20 captives and 100
soldiers in <a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/hamas-says-launch-gaza-city-assault-shows-israeli-disregard-truce-efforts"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">Gaza City</a>,"
said Nimrod Cohen, the brother of a captive soldier,
during a demonstration in Tel Aviv this week.</p>
<p>"When Hamas wants a partial deal, Netanyahu wants a
complete deal - and vice versa."</p>
<p>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'."</p>
<p>"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.\u201d</p>
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