Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s tough remarks have been criticized by diplomats in Washington and at home.
US officials believe Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “maximalist statements” are disrupting ceasefire negotiations over the war in Gaza, multiple media reports have alleged. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrapped up a Middle East tour on Tuesday amid a U.S. push for a ceasefire and hostage deal in the Israel-Hamas conflict.
The reported criticism of Netanyahu comes amid allegations that the Israeli prime minister has expressed a hardline stance on the continued presence of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in Gaza.
Blinken held three hours of talks with Netanyahu on Monday in West Jerusalem. He later announced to the media that the Israeli leader had accepted a “bridge proposal” aimed to bring Israel and Hamas closer to a full ceasefire. The militant group did not attend the talks, citing a lack of a clear plan, and had rejected a U.S. ceasefire proposal the previous day.
On Tuesday, Netanyahu reportedly told relatives of Israeli prisoners in Gaza that he is not ready to withdraw IDF troops from the Netzarim Corridor or the Philadelphia Corridor. The latter runs along the Gaza-Egypt border, a key area that Israel says Hamas uses to smuggle weapons from Egypt, as well as a major humanitarian aid route into the besieged Palestinian enclave.
Speaking anonymously, a US official in Blinken’s entourage criticized Netanyahu’s comments on Tuesday, saying that “maximalist statements like this are not constructive for reaching a ceasefire agreement and certainly jeopardize the ability to implement level-headed, operational-level and technical negotiations,” as cited by BBC and ArabNews.
An unnamed source within Israel’s negotiating team accused Netanyahu of sabotaging the discussions. The Israeli prime minister’s statement “intends to blow up the negotiations, there is no other way to do it”, the official told national media. During a critical period of negotiations around the Philadelphi and Netzarim Corridors, Netanyahu “knows that there is progress – and then makes statements that are the opposite of what was agreed with the mediators”, they added.
The Israeli prime minister is facing increasing pressure from both the US and protesters at home to negotiate a hostage deal and ceasefire with Hamas. About 105 of the 251 hostages taken by the militant group during its October 7 attacks in Israel remain in Gaza, including the bodies of 34 confirmed dead by the IDF, according to the Times of Israel. In addition to taking hostages, the militant group killed about 1,200 people in the attack. The IDF’s subsequent operation in Gaza has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians to date, according to local health officials.