Netanyahu later says ‘Hamas is the one opposing the deal, not Israel,’ as hostage families accuse him of ‘walking back’ offer; Eisenkot: His comments contradict war cabinet decisions Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said that Israel was prepared to pause fighting in Gaza for a partial deal in exchange for the return of a number of hostages held by Hamas, but insisted the war will not end until the terror group is destroyed.

Netanyahu also said the intense fighting phase in the Gaza Strip was winding down as Israel increasingly readies for a potential outright conflict with Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which has been intensifying its cross-border attacks on Israel.

Netanyahu was speaking on the right-wing Channel 14 in his first interview with a Hebrew-language outlet since Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught.

Asked whether he was prepared to reach an agreement with Hamas after the high-intensity phase of the conflict is over that would constitute a commitment to end the war, Netanyahu said: “No. I’m not prepared to end the war and leave Hamas standing. I am prepared to do a partial deal, that’s no secret, that would return some of the people to us.”

“But we are obligated to continue the fighting after a pause in order to complete our goal of destroying Hamas,” he told the TV channel’s “The Patriots” program. “I’m not prepared to give up on that.” Netanyahu’s comments appeared to contradict the terms of Israel’s latest ceasefire and hostage deal proposal, some of whose details were presented by US President Joe Biden last month, which reportedly provides for a temporary ceasefire in the first phase of the deal, to be extended into “a sustainable calm (cessation of military operations and hostilities permanently)” in the second phase. However, Netanyahu has repeatedly denied that the Israeli proposal provides for ending the war before Israel achieves its two declared goals of destroying Hamas and bringing home all the hostages.

Former war cabinet observer MK Gadi Eisenkot said Monday that Netanyahu’s comments contradicted decisions made by the war cabinet. “As someone who sat in the cabinet, there were only two options: A full deal all at once, or a comprehensive deal in three stages. The cabinet voted unanimously on this, and therefore Netanyahu’s statement about a ‘partial deal’ is contrary to the war cabinet’s decisions.

Eisenkot, who left the government two weeks ago together with his National Unity party leader Benny Gantz, told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Netanyahu’s remarks caused the families of hostages “emotional turmoil,” and constituted “critical damage to Israel’s national resilience.” He added: “Maybe it was a slip of the tongue… This requires immediate clarification from the prime minister.”

Read More Here