Senior Israeli officials said on Saturday that U.S. President Donald Trump was dictating the terms for an end to the war, including disarming Hamas and demilitarization of the Gaza Strip. "That is what he plans to present to the leading Arab nations as his way to end the matter of Gaza," they said.
The officials confirmed a report on Politico that Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff met with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed Al Thani on the Spanish island of Ibiza, to discuss the plan. The officials said that after Israel's expressed intent to conquer the Strip and move one million Palestinians out of the central areas, a full deal was now preferable in the eyes of the Israeli government, but it was the United States that was leading the discussions and formulating the new proposals.
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Families of hostages and supporters protest against the government
(Photo: Ronen Zvulun / Reuters)
The officials said Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir was wrong about the risk to hostages, if Israel launched its planned all-out offensive. They said that because of the arrogance of Hamas, there was no progress.
They also claimed that the latest offensive on Gaza launched last May and dubbed Gideon's chariots, achieved successes that were not messaged properly to the world. "We took territory and dismantled Hamas in an unprecedented way and drastically increased the defensive buffer zone near the border communities.
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"Unfortunately, that did not bring about the release of hostages and what Zamir has proposed would not either, the senior officials said. When asked whether the chief of staff was expected to resign, the officials said that senior ministers did think that was a possibility.
"We hope that the more Hamas understands the Israeli plan, the terror group would return to the negotiations. Despite claims that there were few matters unresolved when the talks broke down, the officials said the differences were great and pressure was needed to change the Hamas position.
Earlier, officials said the cabinet decision could change in the months before it would be executed.