The IDF and its then-Chief of Staff, Herzi Halevi, attempted in May 2024 to persuade the political echelon to adopt an agreement that would secure the release of all hostages, thereby enabling the decisive defeat of Hamas in Gaza without operational constraints, Kan 11 News reported Friday evening.
According to the report, in the months leading up to the ground incursion into Rafah, Halevi sought to advance a single-phase proposal aimed at achieving both the release of all hostages and an end to the war.
A team of officers from the Operations and Strategic Divisions was said to have drafted several scenarios outlining a path to defeat Hamas following such an agreement. The underlying rationale was that once all hostages were safely returned, it would be significantly easier to eliminate Hamas. However, the political echelon rejected the proposal outright.
The report further noted that during a limited cabinet meeting in which Halevi presented the plan, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed it, reportedly calling it a “defeat.” Sources familiar with the matter said the initiative was shelved so swiftly that it was never even submitted to the negotiating team for consideration.
The plan ultimately approved in May 2024 was multi-phased and stipulated that the release of all hostages and an end to the war would take place only upon full implementation. While this framework was adopted, Netanyahu’s decision prevented it from advancing to the second phase, which was designed to secure the release of all remaining living hostages.
Netanyahu recently changed course and stated that the government’s policy regarding negotiations with Hamas is to pursue a comprehensive deal only, not partial agreements.
"We will agree to a deal in which all hostages are released in one go and in accordance with our terms for ending the war," the Prime Minister’s office said last month.
The stated conditions include: dismantling Hamas' weapons, demilitarizing the Gaza Strip, Israeli control over the security perimeter, and the establishment of an alternative governing entity in Gaza that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority, and that will live peacefully with Israel.
Earlier this week, as the IDF prepares an operation to take over Gaza City, Hamas claimed that it is ready to discuss a comprehensive deal that would include the return of all hostages and an end to the war, though it left intact all its previous preconditions for such a deal, which are unacceptable to Israel.
Defense Minister Israel Katz dismissed the Hamas announcement. "Hamas continues to close its eyes and utter empty words, but it will soon realize that it must choose between two options: accept Israel's conditions for ending the war, primarily the release of all hostages and disarmament, or Gaza will become equivalent to Rafah and Beit Hanoun."
"The IDF is preparing at full strength," Katz said.
The Prime Minister's Office said in response, "Unfortunately, this is more spin by Hamas that has nothing new.
The war could end immediately on the conditions set by the Security Cabinet:
1. All hostages are released.
2. Hamas is disarmed.
3. The Strip is demilitarized.
4. Israel has security control in the Strip.
5. An alternative civil administration is established that does not educate for terrorism, dispatch terrorists or threaten Israel.
Only these conditions will prevent Hamas from rearming and returning to the massacre of October 7 again and again as it has promised."
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)