Netanyahu has ‘no political excuse’ to shun hostage deal with Hamas: Israeli opposition leader

By Abdelraouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has “no political excuse” to shun a hostage deal with Hamas, opposition leader Yair Lapid told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday.

Lapid met with the top US diplomat, who arrived in Israel on the last leg of a regional tour to push for a cease-fire deal between Tel Aviv and Hamas to end the conflict in the Gaza Strip.

“Netanyahu doesn’t have any political excuse not to move to a deal for the release of the hostages,” Lapid told Blinken as posted on his X account.

“He (Netanyahu) has a majority in the nation, he has a majority in the Knesset, and if needed, I’ll make sure he has a majority in the government.”

Reports have emerged of a cease-fire proposal being discussed by Hamas and Israel to end the conflict in Gaza.

The new offer includes Israel’s willingness to discuss the “restoration of sustainable calm” in Gaza after an initial release of hostages on humanitarian grounds, two Israeli officials told Axios news website.

Hamas is expected to deliver its response to the cease-fire proposal later this week.

On Tuesday, Netanyahu vowed to invade Rafah, home to more than 1.4 million displaced Palestinians, with or without a hostage deal with Hamas.

Rafah is the last remaining area in the enclave where Israel has not yet formally announced the entry of its troops to continue the onslaught against Palestinians.

Israel has waged an unrelenting offensive on the Palestinian enclave since a cross-border attack by Hamas last Oct. 7 which killed some 1,200 people.

More than 34,500 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and thousands injured amid mass destruction and severe shortages of necessities.

Israel has also imposed a crippling siege on the seaside enclave, leaving most of its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

More than six months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar