Israel is giving Hamas “several days” to rethink terms for a new Gaza ceasefire, raising the prospect of further pressure tactics or a resumption of war.
A six-week truce expired on Sunday with the sides divided over core conditions to enable an open-ended cessation of hostilities. During the first phase, Israel recovered 33 hostages held by Hamas in return for hundreds of Palestinians prisoners.
Israel cut humanitarian aid to Gaza for the first time in more than a year, on Sunday, signaling a renewed zero-tolerance stance. Israel accuses the Iranian-backed terrorist group of appropriating aid supplies to fund rearmament and recruitment. The move incensed Arab leaders, who met in Cairo on Tuesday to find ways of staving off a crisis that has shaken the region.
“We are giving Hamas several days in which to try to agree to some kind of bridging proposal,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesperson Omer Dostri said. “If not, we shall convene — the security Cabinet, the premier and the ministers — to make a decision,” he told Israel’s Army Radio.
Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s special envoy overseeing the Qatari- and Egyptian-mediated talks, proposed another short truce and further hostage-for-prisoner swaps spanning the Ramadan fasting month being observed by Muslims. Hamas rejected it and has maintained that Israel must withdraw from Gaza.
The pause in fighting has broadly persisted despite the lapse of the ceasefire.
Briefing reporters separately, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said restarting the offensive against Hamas is an option. “If we will have to do it, we will do it,” he said without being drawn on the potential timing.
Israel, with U.S. support, has made any long-term deal to end the war in Gaza contingent on Hamas being disarmed and removed from governance. Hamas, which is designated a terrorist group by the U.S. and many other countries, signaled it might cede power, but not its rockets and rifles.
Thousands of Hamas terrorists crossed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and abducting 250. In the ensuing war with Israel, more than 48,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.
Israel has not set an ultimatum but does have a “rising scale of pressure levers” that it can apply against Hamas if the remaining 59 hostages in Gaza aren’t returned, Dostri said without elaborating.
Witkoff had planned to visit the region last week but postponed the trip.
“I’m hearing that he might possibly come here next week, after all. As of now we know of no set date,” Dostri said.
