As Bibi Wants to Renew Gaza Slaughter Can Witkoff Save the Ceasefire/Hostage Deal?
March 4—With the Butcher of Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, openly declaring his desire to renew his bloodletting slaughter in Gaza, sources say that the Trump administration has demanded that he delay anti-Palestinian actions for several days to allow Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, a chance to renew the ceasefire and launch serious negotiations on Phase II of the deal, which should have been already well underway had it not be for Bibi’s sabotage.
Witkoff, who has not been able to devote his full attention to Southwest Asia, as he has been working for Trump to secure a ceasefire in Ukraine, had come up with the framework of a plan, which was submitted to both Hamas and Israel. It calls upon Hamas to release half the remaining live and dead hostages at its start, and the rest when a plan for Phase II of the deal and beyond is hammered out by negotiation.
Bibi, realizing that the wording in the framework plan was too unspecific to be accepted by Hamas, immediately announced that Israel would accept it. Hamas, as most observers thought, did reject the announced framework as too vague and not giving Hamas enough in exchange for the loss of their main bargaining chip—the remaining hostages.
While the media has played up Hamas’ rejection, and Bibi’s response of cutting off all humanitarian aid shipments to Gaza that were a stipulated part of the agreement signed by Hamas and Israel in December—an agreement brokered by Witkoff—the reality is that it was Israel that immediately violated its terms when Phase I ended March 1, by announcing its refusal to withdraw its forces from the Philadelphi Corridor, along the border between Gaza and Egypt, as mandated by the signed agreement.
"The headlines about the state of the negotiations on Sunday quoted Netanyahu's office: U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff presented a plan for extending the cease-fire that Israel accepted and Hamas rejected'," writes analyst Amos Harel in Haaretz March 3 "A more accurate headline would have been that Israel is violating the hostage deal. It isn't withdrawing from the Philadelphi corridor along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, it rescinded its commitment to end the fighting and it isn't willing to begin the deal's second phase."
Bibi has ordered the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), badly depleted in manpower and suffering from a collapse in morale after its bloody war Gaza, and emerging bloody affair on the West Bank, to prepare for a new “ferocious” offensive in Gaza were Hamas to continue in its rejection. “We intend to open the gates of hell,” said Bibi’s lunatic racist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who says he stayed in the government to make sure that the war with Hamas will restart and that they will be “exterminated.”
“As insane and delusional as the Ukrainian leadership is,” said a source, “they cannot compare to this. Witkoff now has to plunge back into this sea of insanity and work out a deal, before the bloodshed begins again.” This and other sources report that he has already sent out feelers to Hamas through the Egyptian and Qatari negotiators, to see what would make them more comfortable. He has told them that they must be prepared to release all the hostages, in only one or two steps. That’s what his boss [Trump] wants. He believes that he can force Bibi to accept placing this in the context of an agreement by Israel to permanently end the war, even as the terms of what a post-war Gaza would look like are negotiated.
“So, Witkoff intends to force the Israelis to accept that declaration as well as a physical withdrawal of all IDF forces. But first, to get everyone back to the table, there would be an agreement to the two-stage hostage release deal. Witkoff has spoken to Trump and has his agreement to get tough with Bibi. Despite the statements that we [the U.S.] will let Bibi do what he thinks is necessary for Israel, Trump and Witkoff will demand that he make the return of the hostages his top priority. And this Bibi cannot do without risking the collapse of his government. The reality is that Trump does not give a damn about Bibi’s political future. Trump wants to end the war and the killing, and to give Israelis and Palestinians their lives back, without both being prisoner to the gods of war.”
To make all this work, to move on to Phase II and III of the signed deal, Witkoff is going to have to deal with the future of Hamas. They cannot be allowed to rule Gaza under any circumstances. Sources say that Witkoff wants Hamas fighters to be given a chance to lay down their arms and leave Gaza. At the same time, some of its political people, if they leave Hamas and renounce violence could have a role to play in Gaza’s future. “Bibi says no to this,” said a source. “But he knows not all of Hamas agreed to the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel. Something needs to be worked out on this.”
Witkoff may be counting on help coming from strange places. The Iranians provide the money to sustain Hamas (at least that portion of funds that were not given to them by Bibi, as a bulwark against the Palestinian Authority running Gaza); what if that spigot gets shut off? That could force the split desired with the armed wing going to other organizations, etc. Sources say that the matter has been brought up through backchannels both to the Iranians and their “friends”: the Russians.
Witkoff is expected to fly to Southwest Asia later this week—and he has every intention of getting the agreement back on track. It will not be easy.
Writes commentator Chain Levinson in Haaretz March 2: “Netanyahu is making huge efforts to sabotage any chance of pursuing the deal, to Finance Minister Smotrich’s satisfaction. The administration’s attention has shifted to Russia-Ukraine, and Netanyahu is doing quite well right now…. The only person who can do something about this is Steve Witkoff. The undiplomatic U.S. Special Envoy is preoccupied with Russia-Ukraine affairs, and the Middle East is eluding him. He keeps on postponing a visit here. Now he’s supposed to be coming toward the end of the week. If he doesn’t go into Netanyahu’s office, shove him against the wall and tell him, “Enough! as far as Netanyahu and Smotrich are concerned, there is no first stage, no second stage, and that’s that.”
If Bibi, under pressure from Smotrich, moves to restart the war, he may SOON face an angry mob, led by the families of the hostages and the mothers of the IDF soldiers who were asked to participate in his orgy of killing, but also including much of Israel’s population.
Writes Yossi Verter in Haaretz Feb. 28: “The implementation of Stage 1 and the dramatic change it has brought in Israeli public opinion will soon collide with the coalition’s abuse of the victims and its efforts to tank the deal. The anger will erupt. The great majority of Israelis will not agree to leaving the remaining hostages in Gaza and resuming the war for political reasons. Many of them, certainly the hostages’ families, may escalate their fight in ways we haven’t yet seen.”
Hundreds of Israelis took part in the funeral of Itzhak Elgarat, taken hostage by Hamas and whose body was returned to Israel last week. Elgarat's brother, Danny, a prominent figure in the hostage protests, said during the eulogy that the family did everything in its power to return him home alive: "We failed. We did not do enough. Netanyahu defeated us and you did not return from captivity. The enemy who caused your death is not who kidnapped you, but rather who abandoned you… You are laid to rest in a grave dug by the prime minister."