Negotiations for hostages and ceasefire contracts in Gaza appear to be at a dead end, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leaning towards expanding military operations, and Hamas demands that they be addressed before they get exposed to the humanitarian situation.
Israeli officials said on Sunday that Netanyahu “sought the release of hostages through military defeat (Hamas).”
Officials said Netanyahu “want to combine hostage release with humanitarian entry into areas “outside the combat zone” with areas not under Hamas control.”
Asked about plans to expand the military campaign, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said it reflects “the desire to hope that all hostages will return and to see the end of this war after partial deal consultations were not successful.”
It is unclear whether the Israeli government’s approach is consistent with that of Middle Eastern envoy Steve Witkov, President Donald Trump.
Witkov spent three hours with Israeli hostage families on Saturday, and the Hostage and Missing Family Forum said the plan was “not to expand the war, but to end it. Negotiations will not change everything or anything.
“We have plans to end the war and bring everyone home,” Witkov added. According to the forum, if the remaining living hostages do not return to Israel, where they are still alive, “someone will take responsibility.”
When asked, Witkov’s team did not provide further information regarding the special envoy’s comments.
Trump said Sunday that Witkov is likely to travel to Moscow later in the week.
Fifty hostages remain in Gaza, of which at least 20 are believed to be alive. In Israel, two hostages, Eviyata David and Rom Braslavsky, were widely shocked by Hamas’ release of images over the weekend.
Netanyahu said that Hamas “doesn’t want a deal. The images that showed them wanting to break us with these horror videos are in the false horror propaganda that’s spreading all over the world.”
However, the Family Forum warned the government against the expansion of the military campaign in Gaza.
“Netanyahu is preparing all the biggest deceptions. The repeated claims to free hostages through military victory are lies and fraud,” the forum said on Sunday.
The forum called on Israel and Hamas to “come to bring 50 hostages into their homes, end the war, rebuild and revive Israel.
Hamas is committed to working on negotiations, according to Basmem Naim, a senior Hamas political employee, but has only argued that if a “devastating humanitarian situation” was addressed.
Another Hamas official, Mahmoud Maldawi, said last week that continued consultations “doesn’t make sense” as long as Gaza’s starvation crisis continues.
The World Health Organization said last week that hunger-related deaths in Gaza spiked in July had spiked. The malnutrition rate reached “amazing levels,” he said, with fewer than five children admitting that they had been seen in outpatient treatment for malnutrition in the first two weeks of July.
The Hamas-controlled government media office in Gaza said Monday that 600 trucks of assistance are needed every day to alleviate the hunger crisis, claiming that an average of 84 trucks entered the territory last week.
Cogat, an Israeli agency that oversees the delivery of aid to Gaza, said more than 200 trucks have been collected and distributed by the UN and international organisations on Monday.
But many of the trucks that come in are plundered by desperate civilians or organized gangs.
The United Nations said Friday that nearly 1,400 people have died since the end of May while seeking food. 859 Near a site run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) Following the route of the 514 Food Convoy.
The United Nations said “most of the killings were committed by Israeli forces.”
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, 30 people tried to get food on Sunday while they were trying to get food.
CNN contacted the Israeli military for comment.
The Israeli opinion polls have consistently shown the majority in favour of ending the conflict in Gaza and securing hostage release. A new survey by the National Security Institute found that 38% of Israeli Jews think it is impossible to disarm Hamas. 57% thought that was possible.
On Monday, hundreds of retired Israeli security officials urged Trump to pressure Netanyahu to end the war in Gaza.
“It is our expert judgment that Hamas no longer poses a strategic threat to Israel,” the former official wrote in an open letter shared with the media on Monday.
“In the beginning, this war was a fair war, a defensive war, but when all the military goals were achieved, this war became a fair war,” said Ami Ayalon, former director of Sing Bet Security Services.
However, far-right members of the government are calling for many occupations of Gaza and measures to encourage its population to leave its territory completely.
