Amit Segal, the political commentator for Israel’s Channel 12 news and a political columnist for the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, reported that the Israeli government is considering adding a serious barb to their negotiations with Hamas: annexation of territory in Gaza for every hostage harmed.
This threat was suggested by Steve Witkoff, the negotiator appointed by President Trump. Israel has already agreed to the proposal. It is believed that Hamas views the loss of territory as a serious threat to its rule of Gaza.
Witkoff also proposed that half of the captives be released to restart negotiations in the second phase of the hostage release and ceasefire deal.
Negotiations are currently at a standstill as the IDF began renewed attacks in Gaza overnight on Monday.
“This follows Hamas’s repeated refusal to release our hostages, as well as its rejection of all of the proposals it has received from U.S. presidential envoy Steve Witkoff and the mediators,” the Israeli prime minister’s office stated. Hamas confirmed that at least four senior officials were killed in the IDF strikes overnight.
Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon stated on Monday night in New York that the U.N. Security Council would convene on Tuesday to discuss the situation in Gaza.
“It is time for the countries of the world to take seriously our unwavering commitment to bring back all our hostages home and defeat the enemy,” Danon stated. “Nothing will stop us from fighting to free our hostages, who have been held in brutal Hamas captivity for 527 days. We will show no mercy against our enemies while our hostages languish in Hamas terror tunnels.”
The UN responded by calling for the release of Israeli hostages, as well as “those arbitrarily detained” in Israeli prisons. It also called for an end to the “occupation” and the “evacuation of Israeli settlers”, emphasizing that “Israel is taking serious and accelerated steps to annex more and more parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territory in violation of international law.”
In May, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich suggested to Netanyahu that Israel annex territory in Gaza as a means of pressuring Hamas. It should be noted that in January 2020, Netanyahu promised to “apply [Israel’s] laws to the Jordan Valley and all settlements in Judea and Samaria,” implying that he would not wait for an actual peace deal to begin annexing areas of the West Bank. One month later, he reneged on that promise, stating that Israeli sovereignty would be dependent on the approval of the US government.
