Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday was as clear as he has ever been that he does not believe a ceasefire and hostage deal is likely in Gaza in a sharp rebuke to the Biden administration’s insistence it’s close at hand.
“There’s not a deal in the making,” Netanyahu told Fox News. “Unfortunately, it’s not close.”
His comments stand in stark contrast to the relentlessly hopeful messaging from the Biden administration over the past months. On Sunday, President Joe Biden claimed that the parties were on the verge of a deal, and on Wednesday, a senior administration official claimed 90% of the agreement had been completed.
That, Netanyahu said, is “exactly inaccurate.”
Netanyahu’s rebuff of the US’ assessment of a prospective deal is the latest instance in a string of public comments this week from the Israeli prime minister casting doubt on the potential agreement months in the making.
US officials have been reticent to directly criticize Netanyahu – even as he has repeatedly broken with the administration’s position and cast doubt on his adherence to a potential deal – although a National Security Council official on Thursday acknowledged “frustrations” in the process while still continuing to insist a deal is close.
“It’s exactly inaccurate. There’s a story, a narrative out there, that there’s a deal out there,” the Israeli Prime Minister said of the statement from the American official the day prior that “basically, 90 percent of this deal has been agreed.”
On Sunday, when Israel announced that the bodies of six hostages has been found executed by Hamas, Biden still argued that negotiators were on the “verge of having an agreement.”
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby doubled down on those assessments in comments to the press Thursday, saying, “90% – verge of a deal. You call that optimistic, I call that accurate.”
Asked about Netanyahu’s comments, Kirby said, “I’m just not going to get into a public back and forth through all of you in the press with Prime Minister Netanyahu.”
“I will just say that this process has at times been cumbersome. We have faced setbacks and setbacks and more setbacks, and without question, we here in the administration are frustrated that we still haven’t been able to conclude this deal,” he said.
“There’s lots of reasons for that, but I’m not going to lie to you and say that that we haven’t been frustrated. Of course we have. We want to see the hostages home as soon as possible. But I would also say that as frustrating as it has been at times, and as unhelpful as – not just public comments, but even private machinations in the negotiation process – have been to closure of the deal, it has not dimmed one bit President Biden’s commitment to trying to see this through,” Kirby said.
Kirby also dismissed the idea that the administration was overly optimistic about the prospects of a deal, saying that “we do believe that we have made an immense amount of progress in the last few months in terms of getting the structure of the deal in place, but nothing is negotiated until everything is negotiated.”
The senior Biden administration official on Wednesday said that the majority of the details of the first phase of the agreement had been worked out. The remaining sticking points, they said, are related to the withdrawal of Israeli forces within Gaza away from populated areas and the exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners.
“Other than that, that’s about it,” the senior official said.
On the prisoner exchange, the official accused Hamas of adding new “non-starters” for the prisoners they want to see released.
“What Hamas has been demanding here, the Israelis have come forward to meet the terms as best they can,” the official said. “And Hamas, frankly, on this issue, we’ve had a pretty frustrating process.”
The official said Hamas’s recent killing of six hostages had “colored” the ongoing negotiations and thrown into question Hamas’s willingness to reach a deal.
On where Israel Defense Forces troops move to during the first phase of a deal, the agreement under discussion makes no mention of the length of the Egypt-Gaza border known as the Philadelphi Corridor, the official told reporters Wednesday. Instead, it says in the first phase that the IDF is supposed to withdraw from “densely populated areas,” the official said. Israel argues that the border isn’t one and is vital to preventing weapons from being smuggled into Gaza.
Netanyahu has held two news conferences this week to argue that maintaining permanent control of the Philadelphi Corridor is vital to Israeli security.
“The first war goal was to destroy Hamas’ military and governing capabilities. The second was to free our hostages, and the third was to ensure that Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel. And all three of those goals – all three of them – go through Israel’s control of the Philadelphi corridor,” Netanyahu said Wednesday at a news conference for foreign press.
That emphasis on Philadelphi in Netanyahu’s recent public statements hasn’t been constructive, the official said.
On Thursday, Netanyahu claimed Hamas “don’t agree to anything. Not to the Philadelphi Corridor, not to the keys of exchanging hostages for jailed terrorists, not to anything. So that’s just a false narrative.”
Hamas on Thursday said that Netanyahu has used “evasions and deceptive maneuvers” to avoid reaching an agreement on a ceasefire in Gaza.
The head of the organization’s negotiating team, Khalil Al-Hayya, said in a speech released on Telegram that the “series of evasions and deceptive maneuvers practiced by Netanyahu to evade the obligation to reach an agreement on a ceasefire is now fully exposed to the mediators, the American administration, global public opinion, and even the (Israeli) public.”
Netanyahu is facing mounting accusations that he has purposefully blocked a deal with Hamas. The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, citing a document it obtained, reported that Netanyahu in July effectively spiked a draft of a hostage and ceasefire deal by introducing a raft of new, eleventh-hour demands.
Several news outlets, including CNN, have reported on the late July demands made by Netanyahu, but this is the first time the Israeli document has been obtained in full.
In the Fox News interview, Netanyahu rejected allegations that he has obstructed a deal.
“The obstacle to the end of this war is Hamas. The obstacle to the release of hostages is Hamas. The ones who butchered in a sling, murdering six people in cold blood, riddling them with bullets and then firing bullets into their heads is Hamas. It’s not Israel. It’s not me.”
Netanyahu was also questioned about reports that the families of American hostages still held by Hamas are lobbying the US Administration to unilaterally seek their loved ones’ release.
“I don’t know,” he said. “You know, I don’t judge the families. They’re going through enormous anguish.”
In an interview with CNN’s Kaitlin Collins on Thursday evening, Israeli ambassador Danny Danon was asked why Netanyahu’s latest comments contrast with more optimistic pronouncements from the White House.
“We want to lower expectations,” he said.
“In May the US proposed a deal, we said yes, Hamas said no,” Danin said, adding the same happened in August, contradicting the reporting Yedioth Ahronoth and others.
Israel was continuing to send its intelligence head and other officials to negotiations, Danon argued, and he reiterated blame on Hamas for the lack of progress in talks. “Every time we get closer to reach an agreement Hamas will come up with another excuse why not to sign an agreement,” he said.
Meanwhile, a Biden administration official told CNN Thursday the US has made no offer to Hamas in an attempt the secure the release of American hostages held captive in Gaza, noting that the US does not have the leverage for a unilateral deal with the group.
“Because of Hamas’ demands, there has not been a formal offer for a side deal made because no such deal is possible,” the official said.
This story has been updated with additional information.
CNN’s Abeer Salman, Tim Lister and MJ Lee contributed to this report.
