Above photo: Ronen Zvulun/Pool/AFP/Getty Images.
Hamas’s release of Israeli captives and the possibility of a permanent end to the war on Gaza are hurting the Israeli Prime Minister at the polls.
Israeli sources believe Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intends to sabotage the second phase of the prisoner release deal and derail the Gaza ceasefire, Haaretz reported on 9 February.
“It’s a show,” said one source. “Netanyahu is signaling quite clearly that he doesn’t want to move to the next phase. He’s sending a team without a mandate and without the ability to do anything,” the source added.
In a sign the Israeli Prime Minister is not serious about reaching the next phase of the deal, he sent a delegation to Qatar that is only allowed to discuss “technical details” rather than begin the second stage of the talks, a senior official said. Israeli officials declined to specify what these details entail. The delegation is supposed to receive its mandate later this week.
In a further sign, Netanyahu delayed sending the delegation to Qatar for several days. According to the agreement with Hamas, negotiations for the second stage were supposed to begin last Monday. On Saturday, Israeli authorities released 183 Palestinian prisoners, while Hamas released three Israelis from Gaza.
The source believes the images of the Israeli captives freed in the first phase of the deal have damaged Netanyahu’s popularity among right-wing Israelis, who wish to continue the war, ethnically cleanse Palestinians from Gaza, and annex the strip to build Jewish settlements there.
“Right-wing voters see that we haven’t defeated Hamas, and its operatives are still roaming with weapons. The signs on stages in Gaza during the hostage return events mock Netanyahu and reference his ‘total victory’ slogan,” he said. “Netanyahu knows he doesn’t have a government if he proceeds with the deal.”
Another source told Haaretz that Netanyahu’s actions may even sabotage the remainder of the first stage of the deal from being implemented.
“The process is working, hostages are being released, but Hamas is doing this with the expectation of a second stage, leading to a [full] ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Once Hamas realizes there won’t be a second stage, they may not complete the first,” the source said.
“Hamas isn’t stupid. They see the politicization of the negotiations, the appointment of Netanyahu loyalists Ron Dermer and Gal Hirsch [as new negotiators], and the statements from Smotrich and other right-wing ministers threatening to topple the government. They’ll understand where this is headed.”
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, the head of the Religious Zionism party, has demanded that the war against Gaza resume to defeat Hamas.
Smotrich, who voted against the prisoner exchange and ceasefire deal, said on Saturday that “such evil must be eradicated from the face of the earth.”
The Israeli Prime Minister has also indicated he wishes for the war to continue until Hamas is totally defeated. On Saturday, he vowed that Israel would “eliminate the Islamist terror group and return all the remaining hostages.”
Itamar Ben Gvir, the former National Security Minister who resigned in protest against the prisoner exchange and ceasefire deal, demanded the government “encourage voluntary immigration now,” referring to his goal of ethnically cleansing Gaza. “We have no time!” he stated.
Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump made headlines and drew widespread condemnation regionally and internationally for his declaration that the US will “take over” and establish “ownership” of the Gaza Strip.
The US president has been insisting on the idea of expelling the residents of Gaza to neighboring countries, namely Jordan and Egypt – both of whom have categorically rejected any mass displacement of Palestinians and have rejected the US president’s calls.
Trump’s call to expel 2.3 million Palestinians from Gaza echoes a leaked plan proposed by Israel’s Ministry of Information in October 2023, just one week after the start of the war.
The plan called for expelling Gaza’s population from their lands and homes to Egypt’s Sinai under the pretext of helping them enjoy a better life. Since that time, Israel has relentlessly bombed Gaza, making it nearly uninhabitable. According to Trump, Gaza has become a “demolition site.”