Secret protocols from high-level Israeli meetings reveal that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a ceasefire and hostage deal earlier this year that top security officials believed could have secured the release of all Israeli captives in Gaza, Channel 13 reported.
The report, based on transcripts from March 2025, shows that senior military and intelligence officials supported a two-phase deal that would have ended the fighting temporarily and secured the return of remaining hostages.
The proposal included an option to resume the carnage afterward — but Netanyahu opposed it.
"All of Israel’s leadership miscalculated that humanitarian pressure would force Hamas to surrender," Channel 13 reported.
Five months later, Israel’s restrictions on aid and continued bombardment have failed to dismantle Hamas while severely damaging Israel’s standing internationally, the report added.
The first meeting covered in the leaked protocols took place on March 1, shortly after Hamas returned the bodies of four hostages.
Support and opposition
Israeli leaders were debating whether to advance to the second phase of the ceasefire deal — negotiated by Egypt, Qatar, and the US — which would have required negotiations to end the war and free the remaining captives.
According to the report, Major General Nitzan Alon, who leads Israel’s hostage affairs, told the room: "The only opportunity to release the captives is to discuss the conditions of phase two."
Former Shin Bet Director Ronen Bar agreed: "My preferred option is to move forward with phase two. We can easily return to the war. Let’s get everyone back first, then resume the fight."
Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, who heads Israel’s negotiating team, responded: "We are not prepared to end the war while Hamas remains in power."
The protocols show that the political leadership, led by Netanyahu, ultimately rejected the intelligence officials’ advice.
On March 18, after Hamas had adhered to the first phase of the deal, Netanyahu abandoned the process and resumed the genocide.
According to rights groups and media outlets, at least 50 hostages are still held in Gaza, including 20 believed to be alive.
Meanwhile, more than 10,800 Palestinians remain in Israeli prisons, with reports of torture, malnutrition, and medical neglect.
Last week, Israel pulled out of indirect ceasefire talks with Hamas in Doha, citing disagreements over withdrawal from Gaza, ending the war, and humanitarian aid distribution.
Hostage families accuse government of sabotage
In response to the Channel 13 report, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum accused the Israeli government of misleading the public and sabotaging potential deals.
"The report definitively proves what we’ve been saying for a year and a half — a comprehensive deal to bring all captives home was possible," the forum said.
"Dozens of our loved ones were captured alive, and they were killed while awaiting a deal the government had no intention of pursuing."
It said senior officials had proposed "creative, realistic solutions that could have freed hostages and weakened Hamas,” but these were ignored.
"Since the end of the previous deal, 50 soldiers have died. There have been no military achievements, and no captives have returned," the forum said.
Israel’s genocide in Gaza, which began in October 2023, has killed nearly 61,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, most of them women and children.
Some 11,000 Palestinians are feared buried under rubble of annihilated homes, according to Palestine's official WAFA news agency.
Experts, however, contend that the actual death toll significantly exceeds what the Gaza authorities have reported, estimating it could be around 200,000.
Over the course of the genocide, Israel has reduced most of the blockaded enclave to ruins, and practically displaced all of its population.
