Secret protocols from high-level Israeli security and political meetings, revealed this week by Channel 13, indicate that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blocked proposals that could have secured the release of all remaining hostages in Gaza.
The documents, originating from internal discussions during the most recent ceasefire agreement earlier in 2025, suggest that top Israeli security officials saw a clear opportunity to secure a comprehensive hostage release.
The proposed plan would have involved negotiating a transition into the second phase of the deal, with the option of resuming military operations thereafter.
However, Netanyahu rejected the approach, preferring to continue military action over halting the war while Hamas remained in power.
The Israeli government’s position has since been sharply criticised by victims’ families and human rights groups, who accuse the leadership of deliberately sabotaging the possibility of securing the hostages’ return for political reasons.
The Channel 13 report states that the first of these high-level meetings took place on 1 March, 2025, shortly after Hamas returned the bodies of four Israeli hostages — Itzik Elgarat, Ohad Yahalomi, Tsahi Idan, and Shlomo Mansour — during the ceasefire’s first phase.
During the meeting, Israeli leaders debated whether to pursue phase two of the Egypt- and Qatar-brokered agreement, which would have entailed negotiating an end to the war in exchange for the release of all remaining captives.
Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon, the Israeli army official overseeing prisoner and missing persons affairs, told the political leadership that “the only opportunity to release the captives is to discuss the conditions of phase two”.
Shin Bet Director Ronen Bar supported this view, saying, “We can easily return to the war. Let’s get everyone back first, then resume the fight,” according to the leaked transcripts.
Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, who currently leads Israel’s negotiating delegation, opposed ending the war under any conditions that would allow Hamas to remain in power.
A senior Israeli security official reportedly reiterated that further hostage releases were possible — but only if Israel was willing to discuss the war’s end. Netanyahu and his political circle rejected the proposal.
The initial phase of the deal began on 19 January, 2025, and concluded in March. During this time, Hamas adhered to the terms of the agreement. But on 18 March, Israel unilaterally resumed its military campaign, abandoning further negotiations.
In the five months since, 50 Israeli soldiers have been killed, and no captives have returned.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which advocates for the families of the kidnapped individuals, condemned the government following the Channel 13 revelations.
In a public statement, the group said: “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.”
It accused the government of misleading the public, adding that many hostages died while waiting for a deal that Israeli leaders “had no intention of pursuing.”
The Forum also highlighted the lack of military progress since the collapse of the deal, stating that “there have been no military achievements” since March.
Meanwhile, international organisations have sharply criticised Israel’s continued military actions in Gaza. Since 7 October, 2023, nearly 61,000 Palestinians — most of them women and children — have been killed, according to health officials in Gaza.
Rights groups also allege that over 10,800 Palestinians are currently detained in Israeli prisons, facing widespread reports of torture, starvation, and medical neglect.
According to the Palestinian health ministry, at least six people died of starvation over the last weekend, bringing the total number of malnutrition-related deaths to 175 since the start of the war, including 93 children.
The World Health Organization reported 63 malnutrition-related deaths in July alone, including 25 children, of whom all but one were under the age of five.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a global authority supported by the United Nations and international aid organisations, released a report on 29 July 2025 stating that “the worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip.”
The Israeli government’s approach to humanitarian aid and its blockade of Gaza have further eroded its international standing.
The report quotes an internal assessment by Israeli officials, stating: “All of Israel’s leadership miscalculated that humanitarian pressure would force Hamas to surrender.”
Instead, the blockade has deepened global condemnation, while failing to produce strategic gains.
Adding to the political context is Netanyahu’s own legal situation. The Israeli Prime Minister has been on trial since 2020 on multiple counts of corruption, including bribery, fraud, and breach of trust.
Recent developments suggest that a conviction is likely.
Observers and critics argue that Netanyahu may have a vested interest in prolonging the war in Gaza, viewing national crisis as a shield from legal consequences and a means to maintain political unity within his ruling coalition.
Analysts have pointed to how wartime powers and a state of emergency have allowed Netanyahu to delay or redirect attention away from his criminal proceedings.
In November 2024, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for both Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity over their conduct in Gaza.
Israel is also facing genocide charges at the International Court of Justice, further complicating its global legal standing.
Despite this, the government last week withdrew from indirect negotiations in Doha with Hamas, citing irreconcilable differences over Gaza withdrawal, war termination, and the fate of Palestinian prisoners.
This decision, coupled with the newly disclosed internal discussions, is fuelling domestic and international scrutiny.
The most damning evidence remains the internal consensus among Israel’s top security officials that a full hostage deal was not only achievable, but strategically sound.
That consensus was ultimately overridden by Netanyahu.
With every passing month, the failure to recover the remaining captives — around 50 individuals, of whom only 20 are believed to still be alive — continues to generate public outrage.
The war, now approaching its second year, has yielded little beyond mounting casualties and political isolation.
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