Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu retracted the terms of the ceasefire deal reached last week with the Palestinian fighters in Cairo, Israeli TV Channel 10 revealed yesterday evening.
According to the deal, the Palestinian and Israeli sides reached a final agreement on several issues, including ending the siege on Gaza, and postponed discussions on other issues, including building a seaport and airport. The discussions should resume in Cairo within a month.
Senior Israeli officials reported by the TV station said: “The prevailing impression for Netanyahu is that he did not plan to resume talks with Hamas.”
Channel 10‘s political reporter Raviv Drucker said: “The prime minister said, in a closed meeting on Monday, that he was not intending to send the Israeli delegation to Cairo to resume talks.”
According to Drucker, Netanyahu said that he would beat Hamas through his retraction from the demands agreed upon in the ceasefire deal.
The station said that Netanyahu did not disclose the whole realty about the concessions he made regarding opening the Gaza crossings and the expansion of fishing zones.
It said he might take unilateral measures without carrying out more concessions for Hamas or any other party regarding the crossings, expansion of fishing zones and the other demands “laid down by Hamas”.
Speaking to close aides in a closed meeting, Netanyahu said that demilitarising Palestinian factions is currently “difficult”, as is accepting a seaport and airport in Gaza.
Meanwhile, Israeli officials who took part in the meeting warned of Israeli withdrawal from the occupied West Bank. “If Israel withdrew from the West Bank, tunnels would be built into Israeli cities,” the officials said.