Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Backtracks on Key Israeli Concession in Ceasefire Talks

Jerusalem
CNN
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has backed away from a key Israeli concession in ceasefire negotiations, demanding that militants be prevented from returning to northern Gaza during a potential ceasefire, an Israeli source familiar with the talks told CNN.

Israel had previously agreed to allow Palestinians unrestricted access to northern Gaza during a potential ceasefire, but the source said the prime minister told his negotiating team this week to demand that militants be prevented from entering northern Gaza as part of any ceasefire and hostage-taking deal.

The new demand is likely to undermine progress in the hostage negotiations, and raise further questions about Netanyahu’s commitment to the Israeli proposal for an agreement that has become the basis for detailed negotiations.

Last week, a US official told CNN that the framework agreement was “in place,” and an Israeli official said Netanyahu had allowed his negotiators to enter into detailed negotiations, suggesting a possible breakthrough. Talks resumed in the Qatari capital of Doha on Friday. Over the weekend, Hamas agreed to concede a key sticking point for Israel: that the Jewish state commit to a permanent ceasefire in Gaza before signing a deal.

But a statement A statement issued by the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office on Sunday cast doubt on whether the agreement would advance, setting out a number of “principles” that Israel was unwilling to abandon, including resuming fighting in Gaza “until all the war’s objectives are achieved.”

Israel launched its war on Gaza nine months ago, in response to a Hamas attack on October 7 that killed 1,200 people and captured more than 250, according to Israeli authorities. The war left large swaths of the territory unrecognizable, displaced nearly all of its population and killed more than 38,000 people, according to the health ministry there. Israel had said it would not end the war until all hostages were released and Hamas was eliminated.

CNN has contacted the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office for comment.

Previous report by CNN’s Nadine Ibrahim, Ibrahim Dahman, Eugenia Youssef and Tim Lister.