As negotiations with Hamas stall, Israel and the USA at the moment are aligned on aiming for a complete framework rather than a partial ceasefire and hostage-release deal, a senior Israeli official advised reporters throughout a Thursday briefing.
“There shall be no extra partial offers,” the official was quoted as saying, explaining that Israel and the US now concur on the necessity to “shift from a framework for the discharge of among the hostages to a framework for the discharge of all the hostages, the disarmament of Hamas and the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip.”
If actualized, it could mark an enormous shift for Israel, which got here up with the phased hostage deal framework in the course of the first yr of the struggle, because it enabled Israel to safe the discharge of a few of its hostages, whereas sustaining the power to renew the struggle — one thing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wanted in an effort to keep his coalition, as far-right companions threatened to break down the federal government if Israel agreed to a everlasting ceasefire.
Hamas, for its half, has supplied the discharge of all remaining hostages in trade for an finish to the struggle, whereas rejecting calls to disarm. Netanyahu has additionally argued that prematurely ending the struggle would depart Hamas in energy and capable of regroup.
The potential shift in Israel’s strategy got here amid the newest deadlock in hostage talks, which have largely stalled since Israel and the US pulled their negotiators from Doha final week attributable to frustration with Hamas’s response to the newest phased ceasefire proposal.
In trade for forgoing its demand for an up entrance Israeli dedication to finish the struggle, Hamas sought to restrict the scope of Israel’s presence in Gaza in the course of the 60-day truce underneath dialogue, whereas additionally growing the variety of prisoners it desires in trade for the 28 of the 50 remaining hostages who shall be launched by way of the settlement — circumstances that have been rejected by Israel.
Maryam, a 26-year-old Palestinian mom, holds the hand of her malnourished 40-day-old son Mahmoud as they await remedy on the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis within the southern Gaza Strip on July 24, 2025. (AFP)
On Thursday, an Arab diplomat and a second supply concerned in mediation efforts advised The Instances of Israel that Hamas negotiators in Doha have not too long ago advised mediators that they’re bored with even resuming ceasefire negotiations till the starvation disaster in Gaza subsides.
Hours later, the Hamas-run Gaza well being ministry reported that two extra Palestinians had died over the previous day attributable to issues from malnutrition, bringing the whole determine for the reason that begin of the struggle to 159. Ninety of these deaths have been kids and roughly half of the whole deaths passed off up to now month alone.
Tensions have been additionally at peak degree between Hamas and Arab negotiating international locations Egypt and Qatar. Hamas’s lead negotiator Khalil al-Hayya accused Egypt final week of complicity within the humanitarian disaster, infuriating Cairo. The phobia group can also be indignant at Qatar for signing onto a declaration on the UN earlier this week that known as for Hamas to disarm and step down from energy, the 2 sources say.
Although they left Doha, Israeli negotiators nonetheless submitted to mediators on Tuesday night time their response to the amendments requested by Hamas to the newest ceasefire proposal final week. The Israeli response rebuffed Hamas’s demand that the IDF withdraw from inhabitants facilities alongside the southern Gaza border, the sources mentioned.
In response to the senior Israeli official briefing reporters on Thursday, there was a “breakdown in contacts” with Hamas negotiators. “Hamas has minimize off communication… There is no such thing as a one to speak to on the opposite aspect. That is additionally [US special envoy Steve] Witkoff’s understanding,” mentioned the official, who briefed Israeli reporters on situation of anonymity.
The official additionally famous that Jerusalem and Washington will work to extend humanitarian help whereas persevering with the preventing in Gaza.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, proper, meets with US Particular Envoy Steve Witkoff at his workplace in Jerusalem on July 31, 2025. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)
Witkoff was in Israel on Thursday to satisfy Netanyahu and different Israeli officers to debate the stalled negotiations together with the humanitarian disaster in Gaza. He was additionally slated to make a uncommon foray into Gaza on Friday with US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, amid growing concern inside the US administration concerning experiences of mass hunger in Gaza.
Whereas the US and Israel are publicly in settlement on the necessity for Hamas to disarm, Netanyahu has talked about preventing Hamas till the final fighter, critics argue that the premier is unnecessarily prolonging the struggle when Hamas has lengthy been destroyed as a army and governing physique and that guaranteeing that it may’t revive requires putting in a viable various to its rule — one thing the prime minister has lengthy refused to do.
Individually Thursday, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group printed footage of hostage Rom Braslavski, whom they’re holding captive within the Gaza Strip. The phobia group claimed the video was recorded days earlier than it misplaced contact with captors holding the hostage, and alleged that the hostage’s destiny was unknown.
Hostage Rom Braslavski, in a nonetheless from a propaganda video launched by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, July 31, 2025. (Hostages and Lacking Households Discussion board)
Although the video itself didn’t air on the request of Braslavki’s household, his family members allowed a nonetheless to be printed from the footage. The image exhibits the 21-year-old trying pale and emaciated, mendacity on the bottom in an unknown location in Gaza.
The Hostages and Lacking Households Discussion board, which has lengthy known as for a full hostage deal, expressed its help for the reported shift in Israeli negotiating coverage, urging the Trump administration to work to safe a deal between Israel and Hamas.
“There is no such thing as a ethical or operational justification for partial, ‘selective’ offers. For months, this failed strategy has endangered the hostages and delayed the one resolution that may finish this nightmare: one complete settlement to deliver each hostage residence,” the Discussion board mentioned in a press release.
The Discussion board known as on Trump and Witkoff to “safe a complete deal that ends the preventing and brings all 50 hostages residence for rehabilitation and the deceased for correct burial.”
