Just four days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned from Washington, publicly accepting and rejoicing in President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan to end the war, Hamas submitted its own response – triggering a sequence of rapid developments that Netanyahu could hardly have foreseen and will not necessarily be able to control.
For Netanyahu, Hamas’s reply was exactly what he was expecting – as well as the predictions circulating in Israel’s security circles in recent days: a statement of conditional acceptance with reservations.
Hamas declared its readiness to release all hostages and begin immediate negotiations, yet it fell short of full endorsement, differing on crucial issues like involvement in the post war Palestinian-led governing administration and entirely ignoring disarmament from their remarks.
This was the main assessment at the prompt phone consultation Netanyahu convened late Friday night with top Israeli officials to assess the news from Hamas, according to an Israeli source briefed on the discussion. Israel viewed Hamas’ response as a “yes, but on the border of rejection.”
But Trump had a totally different interpretation. In a dramatic White House announcement, Trump asserted that Hamas approved his plan and ordered Israel to immediately cease its bombing of Gaza, declaring a historic achievement: “Hamas is ready for a lasting PEACE.”
Trump’s directive forced Netanyahu into a stunning reversal of one of his longstanding principles – holding negotiations only under fire – and leaves Israel with little room to maneuver, even as crucial issues in the proposal are still unresolved.
Trump left Netanyahu little choice. Within hours, the Prime Minister’s Office released an unusually-timed early Saturday morning statement announcing Israel’s readiness to implement the first stage of Trump’s plan. The Israeli military subsequently announced that it is implementing the operational adjustments to reflect new instructions, without disclosing any details.
With most of the Israeli government, dominated by religious parties, largely inactive over the weekend, political fallout is yet to come. Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners, Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, have long threatened to take down his government if the war ends. The drama of last night’s developments will ripple through Israeli politics in the days ahead.
