Netanyahu aide says Israel may accept a ‘not good’ ceasefire deal to free hostages

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

An aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Britain’s Sunday Times that Israel may accept the hostage release and permanent ceasefire deal pushed by the Biden administration, although he acknowledged it was “not a good deal.”

Ophir Falk, Netanyahu’s chief foreign policy advisor, said Biden’s proposal was “a deal we agreed to—it’s not a good deal, but we dearly want the hostages released, all of them.”

Falk added, “There are a lot of details to be worked out,” including “the release of the hostages and the destruction of Hamas as a genocidal terrorist organization.”

Biden urged Israel to accept a three-part hostage release and ceasefire deal similar to a version they had previously approved.

The first phase of the ceasefire would require the release of the women, elderly, wounded, and ill hostages, as well as the bodies of deceased hostages.

This is a departure from an earlier agreement that emphasized the release of living hostages in the first phase and of bodies in later stages.

In an earlier agreement, Israel demanded that 33 female, elderly, and wounded be released in the first phase, and Hamas responded by saying they didn’t have 33 surviving hostages that fit that category and offered to release the bodies of captives along with living hostages.

The first phase would allow the return to Palestinians in the north, a condition Israel had earlier balked at for fear that it would allow Hamas to regroup.

The second phase of the deal would see the release of the remaining hostages, including male soldiers, and a withdrawal of the IDF from Gaza.

Biden said of the second phase, “As long as Hamas lives up to its commitments, a temporary ceasefire would become, in the words of the Israeli proposal, a cessation of hostilities permanently.”

The third phase would usher in “a major reconstruction plan for Gaza” and the release of the remainder of the bodies of Israeli hostages.

Hamas has expressed that it is open to negotiation.

“Biden’s speech included positive ideas, but we want this to materialize within the framework of a comprehensive agreement that meets our demands,” senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan told Al Jazeera on Saturday.

However, in past iterations of the hostage deal, Hamas has made promising statements only to reject proposals and place the blame on Israel for the failure in negotiations.

The main sticking point between Israel and Hamas is that Israel has agreed to a temporary ceasefire before the release of hostages, and Hamas has insisted that no hostages will be released unless Israel agrees to a permanent ceasefire from the outset.

Falk reiterated Netanyahu’s position that “there will not be a permanent ceasefire until all our objectives are met.”