Netanyahu proposes to end war in Gaza if Hamas gives up power, goes in exile: Report

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has proposed a two-step to end the war in the Gaza Strip, which includes Hamas giving up power in the Palestinian enclave and its senior leaders going into exile, according to a report.

Netanyahu has been non-committal to the three-stage deal that Israel and Hamas signed earlier this month. As per the deal, the first stage would involve the release of 33 hostages in lieu of around 1,000 Palestinian prisoners’ release. The second stage would involve the release of all hostages in lieu of more prisoners and complete Israeli withdrawal. The third stage would mark the starting of Gaza’s reconstruction.

Amid such indications, Axios has reported that Netanyahu proposed during his visit that he would end the war in Gaza if Hamas would give up power and its leaders would go into exile. He further proposed to extend the first stage of the deal and end the war without implementing the second and third stages.

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In recent weeks, however, Netanyahu has indicated that he does not intend to implement the deal beyond the stage 1.

Netanyahu’s plan to end war in Gaza

Netanyahu outlined his plan in meetings with Trump and US officials, two US sources and an Israeli source told Axios.

US sources said Netanyahu told US officials that he wants to extend the first stage of the deal beyond six weeks to release more hostages in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners as per a ratio that would be decided in negotiations. Additional Palestinian prisoners could include senior Hamas leaders whom Israel refused to release in the first stage of the deal.

The leaders released, along with senior leaders already in Gaza, would need to go into exile abroad, said sources.

Separately, senior Israeli officials claimed to Axios that Hamas has already agreed to give up civilian control of Gaza and to transfer responsibility for the reconstruction to the Palestinian Authority (PA) or an independent committee, but it is not willing to give up military power in the enclave or dismantle its military. This might be complicated as Netanyahu has consistently rejected the involvement of PA, the de facto Palestinian government that partially runs West Bank, in the post-war Gaza’s governance.

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Even as Netanyahu has outlined the plan, a senior Israeli official told Axios that the chances of Hamas accepting such a plan were “extremely low” and such a plan could collapse of the hostage-release and ceasefire deal and to the war resuming.

That might just be the plan. Netanyahu has already indicated that he wants to resume the war after the first stage of the deal as his extremist ally, Bezalel Smotrich, has threatened to quit the government if the ceasefire is implemented in full and the war ends permanently. To safeguard his coalition, Netanyahu is expected to resume the war even if that means essentially means risking the deaths of remaining hostages.