'Hamas rejected everything... I hope that changes': Netanyahu on stalled Gaza truce talks

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Hamas had rejected all elements of a proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza that would help facilitate the release of hostages.

“Hamas has rejected everything… I hope that changes because I want those hostages out,” Netanyahu told a news conference, casting doubt on the possibility of a breakthrough one day after the State Department said it was “time to finalise that deal”.

“We’re trying to find some area to begin the negotiations,” Netanyahu said.

“They (Hamas) refuse to do that… (They said) there’s nothing to talk about.”

Netanyahu has come under added domestic and international pressure to seal a deal that would free Israeli hostages after authorities announced on Sunday the deaths of six whose bodies were recovered from a tunnel in southern Gaza.

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On Monday, Netanyahu said Israeli forces would retain control over the Philadelphi Corridor along the Egypt-Gaza border, vowing “not to give in to pressure” over the issue.

Hamas, whose unprecedented October 7 attack on southern Israel started the war, is demanding a complete Israeli withdrawal from the area as part of the stalled talks mediated by the United States, Qatar and Egypt.

At Wednesday’s news conference, Netanyahu reiterated his position on the Philadelphi Corridor but also insisted it was not the sole sticking point.

Also unanswered, he said, were questions over how many Palestinian prisoners would be freed in exchange for hostages, whether Israel could veto the release of certain prisoners and where released prisoners should go.

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“The whole thing has not been resolved,” he said.

The October 7 attack by Hamas resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians including some hostages killed in captivity, according to official Israeli figures.

Israel’s retaliatory military offensive in Gaza has so far killed at least 40,861 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

Most of the dead are women and children, according to the UN rights office.

At protests in several Israeli cities this week, Netanyahu’s critics have blamed him for hostages’ deaths, saying he has refused to make necessary concessions for striking a ceasefire deal.

US President Joe Biden said this week he did not think Netanyahu was working hard enough to free the hostages.