Israel's defense minister has vowed that it would maintain “full freedom of action” in the Gaza Strip after fighting ends in the Palestinian enclave, a day after raising hopes that a ceasefire and hostage deal was imminent.
Israel was “closer to a ceasefire deal than we have ever been,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said during a closed-door parliamentary committee hearing Monday. The comment was confirmed to NBC News by an Israeli lawmaker who was present.
While ceasefire talks have broken down multiple times in the past, two U.S. officials and an Israeli official last week told NBC News that Hamas relented on key points to securing an agreement.
According to the officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity, Hamas agreed that Israeli forces would remain in Gaza temporarily after the end of hostilities, and Hamas would provide a comprehensive list of hostages, including American citizens, to be released. Hamas would also see a large number of Palestinian prisoners released by Israel as part of the deal, the sources said.
The Wall Street Journal first reported these concessions. Hamas has not confirmed to NBC News or others’ reporting that it has agreed to Israeli troops in Gaza.
Hamas said Tuesday that “serious and positive discussions” had taken place in Doha, Qatar, with Egyptian and Qatari mediators, and that reaching a ceasefire agreement and prisoner exchange was possible if Israel “stops setting new conditions.”
On Tuesday morning, Katz said Israel would maintain control over Gaza after the fighting ends.
"After the military and governmental power of Hamas in Gaza is defeated, Israel will securely control Gaza with full freedom of action" he posted on X, likening this outcome to Israel’s current control over the occupied West Bank.
Katz did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for details on what “full freedom of action” would mean. But the comparison to the West Bank underscores a key concern for Palestinians and their supporters: the fear of prolonged Israeli military presence in Gaza, akin to the West Bank, where Israel maintains ultimate control over territory and settlements, and carries out regular raids in the area.
Yossi Mekelberg, a senior consulting fellow with Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa program, said Katz' comparisons with the West Bank suggest that Israel is “going to have full control entering by any means at any given time.”
"That’s a completely fair enough interpretation, considering that we know what happens in the West Bank," he said. "Is that what a ceasefire agreement is going to say? I have my doubts."
Gershon Baskin, an Israeli hostage negotiator and frequent critic of Netanyahu's government, said he did not believe Katz' remark that Israel had never been closer to a ceasefire.
"I have difficult accepting that Hamas has dropped its fundamental demand of an obligation to end the war including full Israeli withdrawal," he told NBC News via WhatsApp.
President-elect Donald Trump has injected urgency into negotiations, repeating Monday his threat that there would be “hell to pay” if no deal was in place by the time he was inaugurated Jan. 20.
A senior administration official told NBC News on Friday that Trump’s pressure was a major factor in Hamas relenting on two key issues during ceasefire and hostage-release talks with Israel.
“There is a confidence we have not seen since May when" President Joe Biden "presented his proposal,” the official told NBC News, acknowledging that Trump’s warning that he wants to see a deal before he takes office was “a big factor” in recent concessions.
The U.S. hopes to secure a ceasefire agreement before the end of the month, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said last week in a press conference in Tel Aviv.
Recent developments in the region, including the weakening of Iran, the longtime backer of the terrorist group, the degradation of Hezbollah and the fall of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, also contributed to the compromise by Hamas, the senior Biden administration official said.
Negotiations to secure the release of the remaining hostages captured by Hamas during the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack have languished for months. According to Israeli officials, around 1,200 people were killed in the country during the attack and around 250 people were taken hostage — dozens of whom are still being held by Hamas and other militant groups.
More than 45,000 people, more than half of them women and children, have been killed in the Gaza Strip in Israel's military campaign following the attack, according to the enclave's health officials and aid organizations. Much of the Palestinian enclave has been destroyed and a majority of the population driven from their homes.
