Netanyahu added conditions that complicated Gaza negotiations, officials say

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu introduced new conditions that complicated negotiations aimed at freeing hostages and suspending fighting in the Gaza Strip in May, according to U.S. and foreign officials.

The New York Times first reported on Netanyahu’s additional stipulations, citing internal Israeli government documents outlining the country’s negotiating position.

Indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas, mediated by the U.S., Qatar and Egypt, focused on a cease-fire proposal that would temporarily halt the conflict and secure the release of hostages held by Hamas and of Palestinians detained by Israel. 

But Netanyahu added new conditions that Israeli forces maintain control of Gaza’s southern border with Egypt and that more restrictions be placed on Palestinians seeking to return to their homes in the enclave, according to U.S. and foreign officials.

The cease-fire talks, with Israel represented by the head of its intelligence service and other officials, had advanced close to an agreement. But when the outlines of a possible deal were taken back to Jerusalem, “Netanyahu would then move the goalposts and propose new conditions,” a Middle Eastern official told NBC News. 

Netanyahu’s office said Tuesday that reports that Israel had added new conditions to the proposal are “false” and that a letter from him last month “does not introduce extra conditions and certainly does not contradict or undermine the May 27 proposal.”  

A Hamas representative in Lebanon told Sky News, NBC News’ British partner broadcaster, on Tuesday that the group would not take part in planned negotiations this week in the Middle East. “Netanyahu is not interested in reaching an agreement that ends the aggression completely,” the representative said. “But rather he is deceiving and evading and wants to prolong the war and even expand it at the regional level.”

Israel planned to send a delegation to the negotiations Thursday, a State Department spokesperson said.    

Netanyahu has publicly stated for over a month that he has no intention of compromising Israeli security along the Egypt-Gaza border otherwise known as the Philadelphi Corridor.

Speaking at an Israel Defense Forces graduation ceremony last month, Netanyahu said any agreement must prevent “the return of armed terrorists, and the entry of weapons, to the north of the [Gaza] Strip.”

Critics in Israel, including the families of hostages, have accused Netanyahu of failing to prioritize an agreement that would temporarily halt the fighting and bring Israeli hostages home.

They say he has been trying to placate far-right members of his ruling coalition who have threatened to withhold their support for his government if a cease-fire agreement is reached.

U.S., Western and Middle Eastern officials also say Hamas has often shown a reluctance to compromise and has demanded new conditions at times that have made an agreement difficult to obtain. 

The war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas was sparked by Hamas’ terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7, which killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians. About 40,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza since Israel launched its retaliatory military operation in the enclave, according to local health officials.

In a statement Sunday, Hamas said Israel had added new conditions to an earlier proposal that revealed its intention to continue its “aggression” in Gaza and sabotage a possible cease-fire agreement.

The group suggested that international mediators come forward with a plan to implement what was agreed to last month instead of going through more rounds of negotiations or new proposals.

Although the U.S., along with Qatar and Egypt, appealed to both parties to return to the negotiating table this week, a senior Biden administration official acknowledged a large amount of progress is needed before the two sides would agree to a cease-fire. 

“It’s not like the agreement is going to be ready to be signed on Thursday,” the senior administration official told reporters. “There’s still a significant amount of work to do, but we do believe that what’s left here really can be bridged, and there’s really just no time to lose.”

The talks could also be upended by Iran’s vow to strike at Israel after the assassination of Hamas’ political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran on July 31. Haniyeh was leading Israel’s negotiations with Hamas at the time.