Dermer meets with Qatari officials in Paris, although Israeli official says no plans to send delegation to talks; Smotrich reportedly threatens to quit government as Gantz weighs return
As Egypt presses Israel for a response on the latest ceasefire proposal approved by Hamas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instead announced on Wednesday that he was “shortening the timelines” for the IDF’s plans to conquer Gaza City, a day after Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer met with Qatari officials in Paris to discuss the negotiations.
While momentum has mounted over the past few days toward reaching a hostage release deal, Netanyahu has continued to dismiss such efforts, focusing instead of the plan approved by the cabinet earlier this month to intensify fighting in the Gaza Strip, though he has not outright rejected the latest proposal.
In a statement Wednesday evening, Netanyahu said he had instructed the army to “shorten the timelines for seizing the last terror strongholds and for the defeat of Hamas,” referring to the IDF’s upcoming offensive in Gaza City.
The IDF’s plans for the capture of Gaza City are set to be presented to Netanyahu on Thursday, according to military officials.
But Dermer met on Tuesday in Paris with a delegation of senior Qatari officials to discuss the ongoing hostage release and ceasefire negotiations, an Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel.
During the meeting, Dermer reiterated the Israeli stance that it is only interested in a comprehensive deal in which Hamas releases all of the hostages at once and agrees to Jerusalem’s terms for its surrender from power, the Arab diplomat said, confirming a Channel 12 news report.
In his call with Witkoff, Abdelatty updated the US envoy on the latest developments in the ceasefire talks, stressing the need to “seize the current opportunity” to bring about an end to the war, the Egyptian readout said.
Hamas claimed this week that it has agreed to a deal based on the so-called “Witkoff framework,” which would commit the terror group to release 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 of the slain hostages, in exchange for a 60-day ceasefire and the release by Israel of hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners, amid talks for a permanent end to the war.
On Wednesday, Hamas said Israel’s plans to conquer Gaza City showed its “blatant disregard” for the efforts to broker a ceasefire.
“Today’s announcement by the terrorist occupation army of the start of an operation against Gaza City and its nearly one million residents and displaced persons… demonstrates… a blatant disregard for the efforts made by the mediators,” the Palestinian terror group said in a statement.
“Netanyahu’s disregard for the mediators’ proposal … proves that he is the real obstructionist of any agreement,” it further charged, while saying Israel’s planned operation in Gaza City would fail.
