Israel Holds Off on Approving Hostage Deal, Accusing Hamas of Reneging on Details

 

Israel Holds Off on Approving Hostage Deal, Accusing Hamas of Reneging on Details

Israel was still holding off on Thursday afternoon from officially declaring that a ceasefire-hostage release deal announced a day earlier by mediators had been reached with Hamas, insisting that details remained to be finalized and that Hamas was throwing last-minute wrenches into the negotiations.

Mossad chief David Barnea, the head of Israel’s negotiating team who was dispatched to Doha on Saturday night, was still in the Qatari capital as of Thursday afternoon, according to an official familiar with the talks.

Both the US and Qatar — who brokered the agreement — proclaimed on Wednesday evening that a deal had been reached to end the 15-month war in Gaza triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held off on publicly commenting, saying he would only do so when the terms were finalized. [...]

The Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement Thursday morning accusing Hamas of backing out of some agreements and creating a “crisis” in finalizing the deal. – The Times of Israel

AND

Israel Security Cabinet to Meet on Friday After Hostage Deal Reached, Netanyahu Says

The office of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that a “deal for the release of the hostages” has been reached in Doha and that he has ordered the security cabinet to convene later on Friday, a day after originally intended.

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been updated by the negotiating team that agreements have been reached on a deal for the release of the hostages,” his office said in a post on X in the early hours of Friday. […]

His office had accused Hamas on Thursday of reneging on key parts of the agreement to extort last-minute concessions. No evidence was provided for the allegation and Hamas denied it. Netanyahu has been accused of deliberately sabotaging previous deals for his own political benefit.

It was not immediately clear whether the full cabinet would meet on Friday or Saturday… The Times of Israel reported that the full cabinet meeting would not take place until Saturday night, citing a Netanyahu spokesperson. […]

That could mean that the ceasefire does not come into effect until Monday, a day later than originally planned. — The Guardian

Our Take:

This is a truly shocking development. Nobody saw this coming.

Actually, I think President Trump saw this coming, which is why he was so quick to spike the football and make countless posts on Truth Social celebrating the success of this deal. In the collective mind, Trump has already sown the narrative that this was a done deal, so this delay (which I assume will become indefinite) now feels like Netanyahu pulling defeat from the jaws of victory.

Now they are saying that they will "approve it" on Saturday, it will go into effect around noon on Sunday, and due to stipulations in the terms of the deal, the required 24-hour delay means that the first hostages won't be exchanged until Monday, when Donald Trump will be sworn in as President.

What does POTUS think about all of this?

“We changed the course of it, and we changed it fast, and frankly, it better be done before I take the oath of office,” President Trump said in a podcast interview with Dan Bongino.

Trump also said, “We shook hands, and we signed certain documents, but it better be done.”

But wait. There's more.

Netanyahu’s coalition will maintain a Knesset majority even without Ben Gvir’s party, though if fellow far-right minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism also follows through on threats to depart, it would fall to a minority. Opposition parties have promised to support the coalition so long as it is advancing the deal.

Yesterday we talked about the Korean-Mexican standoff happening in Seoul. Now we have a Yiddish-Mexican standoff happening in Tel Aviv.

Trump's Gambit worked. Netanyahu is pinched.

Checkmate. – GhostofBasedPatrickHenry