As cabinet meeting glosses over deal, mediators say Israel ignoring Hamas proposal

Qatar on Tuesday said that Israel has yet to respond to the ceasefire-hostage deal proposal that Hamas said it accepted earlier this month, adding that it does not believe Jerusalem is interested in reaching an agreement. Egypt, another mediator in the stalled talks, has reportedly conveyed its “disappointment, frustration and anger” to Israel over its lack of response.

The comments came as major protests took place across Israel, demanding that the government sign a deal to bring the hostages home and end the war in Gaza, and as the security cabinet met in Jerusalem to approve the military’s plans to conquer Gaza City, with reports saying that the forum did not discuss the ceasefire proposal on the table.

In a press briefing to local reporters, Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman, Majed al-Ansari, said that Doha has not yet received a response from Israel to the latest ceasefire and hostage deal proposal, and that the offer on the table “matches 90 percent of what Israel wants.”

“The ball is now in Israel’s court, and it seems that it does not want to reach an agreement,” Ansari said.

Earlier this month, following Israel’s decision to move forward with the conquest of Gaza City, Hamas accepted a proposed agreement that would see 10 living hostages exchanged for Palestinian security prisoners during a 60-day truce that could be extended to a second phase if the sides agreed to terms on a permanent ceasefire.

In exchange for each living hostage, the deal would see Israel release 60 Palestinian security prisoners serving sentences of at least 15 years, including a total of 140 prisoners serving life sentences. Israel would also hand over 1,000 Gazans detained without charge by the IDF since October 7. In addition, for each slain hostage’s body, 10 bodies of dead Palestinian prisoners would be returned, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Israel has yet to formally discuss the proposal, which is nearly identical to one that it agreed to earlier this year, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shifting toward favoring a “comprehensive framework” for an end to the war and the release of all hostages, instead of the partial deal that has been under discussion for months.

Security cabinet meets, doesn’t discuss deal

Meanwhile, on Tuesday afternoon, Netanyahu convened the security cabinet for a meeting at his office in Jerusalem to approve operational plans for the next stages of the IDF operation in Gaza City.

According to Hebrew-language reports, it did not vote on, or even debate, the partial ceasefire deal that Hamas said it agreed to.

After the meeting ended, Channel 12 news reported that Israel again emphasized to Egypt, one of the key mediators in talks, that it is not interested in a phased deal and will only agree to a comprehensive deal that returns all the hostages held in Gaza and ends the war.

Israel has said its conditions for ending the war are the release of all remaining hostages at once, the disarmament of Hamas, the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, overall Israeli security control of the territory, and the transfer of governance to a body that is not Hamas or the Palestinian Authority.

According to the report, Netanyahu told ministers at the meeting that his stance on a comprehensive framework has not changed, and that he is moving ahead with the expanded operation to capture Gaza City to pressure Hamas to meet his conditions.

According to multiple reports, the security cabinet meeting was moved up to 4 p.m. — and ended by 7 p.m. — because of an exclusive dinner event hosted Tuesday evening by the West Bank’s Mateh Binyamin Regional Council chief Israel Ganz in Jerusalem’s Mishkenot Sha’ananim neighborhood.

Before the meeting started, the Maariv daily reported, without citing sources, that  Israel is exploring avenues for ending the war in Gaza, and that US officials recently asked Qatari counterparts to get Hamas to lay out a list of its demands for ending the war and releasing all the hostages.

Hamas has yet to respond, according to the report.

According to Maariv, a mid-level Egyptian delegation was in Israel on Monday to confirm the location for the next round of talks on a ceasefire, though Qatar said that the location for talks was less important.

“What matters now is not the venue, but that an agreement is reached now. There is already an offer on the table to which Israel must respond,” said Ansari.

“Attempts to stall by shifting locations or other tactics are clear to the international community, and it is time for Israel to give a serious answer to what it has already agreed to in the past,” he added.

Echoing those comments, “very senior figures in Egypt” have conveyed to their Israeli counterparts their “disappointment, frustration and anger” that Israel, after eight days, has failed to respond to the proposal, according to Channel 12.

“With considerable pressure, we got Hamas to agree to 98% of Netanyahu’s demands, but [Israel] has yet to respond to us with a proper answer, and all we’re hearing is that ‘Netanyahu wants something else,’” the TV report quoted unnamed senior Egyptian officials as saying.

“This is strange and unacceptable behavior. There is an opportunity to reach an agreement and secure the release of at least 10 living hostages, and Israel is simply turning its back,” the Egyptian officials reportedly said.

Protesters march to the PMO in Jerusalem as security cabinet convenes to approve plans for the army’s operation to take over Gaza City pic.twitter.com/ICCGMmVnDb

— charlie summers (@cbsu03) August 26, 2025

As the security cabinet met on Tuesday, outside the Prime Minister’s Office, hundreds of protesters marched, demanding that the forum agree to the deal on the table.

At the front of the demonstration, members of the socialist Hashomer Hatzair youth movement held a banner that read: “We are one step away from a complete torpedoing,” referring to fears that the government will tank a prospective hostage deal.

Police flanked the demonstrators and blocked off the road in one direction to allow the march to proceed.

“First of all, first of all, human lives above all,” protesters chanted as they marched down the street, accusing Netanyahu and his allies of “abandoning the hostages.”

The march came as tens of thousands of people took to the streets across Israel on Tuesday as part of an organized day of action demanding the government reach a deal for the release of 50 hostages still held by terrorist organizations in Gaza.

The day of action, announced by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, is the second such day in two weeks, after a major protest last Sunday drew crowds of over one million, according to the forum, with some 500,000 in Tel Aviv alone.

Throughout Tuesday, protesters blocked several major highways and staged marches and demonstrations, and former hostages and the relatives of current captives accused the government of “torpedoing” the chances of bringing their loved ones home.

Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are holding 50 hostages, including 49 of the 251 abducted by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023. They include the bodies of at least 28 confirmed dead by the IDF. Twenty are believed to be alive, and there are grave concerns for the well-being of two others, Israeli officials have said. Hamas is also holding the body of an IDF soldier killed in Gaza in 2014.

Hamas released 30 hostages — 20 Israeli civilians, five soldiers, and five Thai nationals — and the bodies of eight slain Israeli captives during a ceasefire between January and March, and one additional hostage, a dual American-Israeli citizen, in May as a “gesture” to the United States.

The terror group freed 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November 2023, and four hostages were released before that in the early weeks of the war. In exchange, Israel has freed some 2,000 jailed Palestinian terrorists, security prisoners, and Gazan terror suspects detained during the war.

Eight hostages have been rescued from captivity by troops alive, and the bodies of 49 have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the Israeli military as they tried to escape their captors, and the body of a soldier who was killed in 2014.