NEW YORK, August 20. /TASS/. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to give more wiggle room to his own negotiators in getting a Gaza ceasefire and hostage agreement, US media outlet Axios reported, citing senior Israeli officials.

According to their information, the Israeli negotiators, including Mossad director David Barnea and other high-ranking officials, on August 18 briefed Netanyahu that if he gave them more freedom to negotiate, a deal with Hamas might be possible. However, the head of government "refused to budge and reprimanded them for ‘caving.’" He asserted that sooner or later Hamas will agree to his terms, the unnamed senior officials said. According to them, Netanyahu supported the most recent US proposal which incorporated several of his demands. That said, the Israeli prime minister fully understands that Hamas will reject it. The sources insist that his public statements that Israeli negotiators were "cautiously optimistic" about concluding a deal were "political posturing."

According to Axios, one of the stumbling blocks was Netanyahu’s demands that Israel maintain military control over what is known as the Philadelphi corridor on the Egypt-Gaza border. That said, the news portal noted that Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and the heads of the Israeli security services think that "they can mitigate the risk of pulling troops out of the Philadelphi corridor, and that establishing such a monitoring mechanism would take months." The other obstacle is the demand to create a monitoring mechanism "to prevent weapons smuggling from southern Gaza to the north." Axios stressed that on August 18, Hamas rejected the deal.

Another round of Gaza ceasefire and hostage release consultations was held in Doha on August 15 and 16. The leaders of Egypt, Qatar, and the United States said in their joint statement after the talks that the negotiations had been held in a positive atmosphere. During the consultations, the US, supported by Qatar and Egypt, presented a proposal allowing to resolve differences between Hamas and Israel, according to its text. However, Hamas stated that the new US initiative takes into account Israel’s interests only.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when militants from the Gaza-based Palestinian radical group Hamas staged a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. In response, Israel has declared a state of war readiness; announced a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians; and began delivering air strikes on the enclave and certain parts of Lebanon and Syria, followed by a ground operation in the enclave. Clashes are underway in the West Bank as well.