JERUSALEM: Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said Friday it was time to use “full force” in Gaza, after Hamas said a new US-backed truce proposal failed to meet its demands.
“Mr Prime Minister, after Hamas rejected the deal proposal again — there are no more excuses,“ Ben Gvir said on his Telegram channel.
“The confusion, the shuffling and the weakness must end. We have already missed too many opportunities. It is time to go in with full force, without blinking, to destroy, and kill Hamas to the last one.”
The White House said on Thursday that President Donald Trump and US envoy Steve Witkoff had “submitted a ceasefire proposal to Hamas that Israel backed”.
“Israel signed off on this proposal before it was sent to Hamas,“ Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, adding discussions were “continuing” with the militants.
Israel has not confirmed that it approved the new proposal.
Hamas sources said last week the group had accepted a US-backed deal, but on Thursday political bureau member Bassem Naim said the new version meant “the continuation of killing and famine… and does not meet any of our people’s demands, foremost among them halting the war”.
“Nonetheless, the movement’s leadership is studying the response to the proposal with full national responsibility,“ he added.
A source close to the group said the new version “is considered a retreat” from the previous one, which “included an American commitment regarding permanent ceasefire negotiations”.
According to two sources close to the negotiations, the new proposal involves a 60-day truce, potentially extendable to 70 days, and the release of 10 living hostages and nine bodies in exchange for Palestinian prisoners during the first week.
It also involves a second exchange of the same number of living and dead hostages during the second week, according to the sources.
The same sources said Hamas had agreed last week to two exchanges on the same terms, but one during the first week of the truce and the other during the final week.
