Israel mad at Trump administration over secret US-Hamas talks: Report

The Donald Trump administration’s covert negotiations with Hamas ignited a heated debate between Israel’s top official and the US envoy, a recent report revealed.

American news website Axios reported on Friday that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-hand man, Ron Dermer, engaged in a contentious call with Adam Boehler, who was leading the talks with Hamas in Doha, Qatar, expressing strong objections to the secret negotiations.

The call happened several hours after Boehler met in Doha with Khalil al-Hayya, deputy chief of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas and the head of its negotiating team.

Boehler’s negotiations in the Qatari capital began the week prior, with a meeting with lower-level Hamas officials.

The talks were centered on bringing home Edan Alexander, 21, an American captive held in Gaza, and the bodies of four deceased American captives — part of Boehler’s mandate as Trump’s envoy.

The talks also touched on specifics — like the number of Palestinian abductees who would be released from Israeli jails in exchange for Alexander’s return — that Israel hadn’t agreed to.

Axios quoted a source familiar with Netanyahu’s thinking, saying that while Netanyahu was initially dismissive of the idea that the US would actually sit down with Hamas, he and his advisers grew more and more concerned after the idea became a reality.

In what sources told Axios was a “difficult” call, Dermer objected to Boehler making such proposals without Israel’s consent.

One Israeli official claimed Dermer’s intense call with Boehler led the White House to reevaluate its approach, Axios said.

Trump defended the talks with Hamas on Thursday as helpful to Israel because “we are talking about Israeli hostages.”

Trump’s West Asia envoy, Steve Witkoff, who is scheduled to travel to the region early next week, also said on Thursday that Alexander’s release is the administration’s “top priority.”

He claimed that “good humanitarian action by Hamas” regarding Alexander would “get them a lot of political capital,” and said that there was a “deadline” for Hamas to agree to a deal.

Western media ‘manufacturing consent’ for genocide by pinning truce breach on Hamas

To manufacture consent for genocide on Gaza, Western media is busy spinning the narrative and pinning the blame for the ceasefire breach on Hamas, rather than Israel.

The families of American captives told Axios that they had already lobbied the Joe Biden administration for months to talk directly with Hamas to get a separate deal to free their loved ones.

A former Biden adviser has said that “these talks went nowhere because what Hamas wanted was a ceasefire and prisoners, and it was in Israel’s hands, not ours.”

Israel had to agree to a ceasefire deal with Hamas on January 15 after failing to achieve any of its war objectives, including the “elimination of Hamas” and the release of Israeli captives over its 15-month-long genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

As part of the deal, the Israeli regime also released nearly 1,900 Palestinian abductees held illegally in Israeli jails in exchange for 33 captives, including eight dead bodies.

Last week, Netanyahu abruptly declared the end of the ceasefire agreement beyond the first phase with Hamas, in brazen violation of the terms agreed upon by both sides.

He also announced the immediate suspension of all humanitarian aid to the besieged Palestinian territory’s 2.3 million residents, sparking massive anger and outrage worldwide.

Israel aims to pressure Hamas into accepting a revision of the ceasefire agreement, allowing for the release of more Israeli captives without the withdrawal of occupation forces from the Gaza Strip.

Israel’s decision to cut aid to Gaza and its refusal to participate in the second phase of the ceasefire deal signal the regime’s intent to escalate its genocidal war against Gaza, with speculation already rife that the stage is set for resumption of the aerial and ground assault.

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