Netanyahu, Not Hamas, Is Keeping Israeli Hostages Locked Up

Only Netanyahu’s obstinacy is keeping Israeli hostages in captivity, and the people of Gaza in a death camp.

by Kathryn Shihadah, reposted from If Americans Knew

According to the ceasefire agreement that Israel and Hamas signed in January, all of the living hostages would be free TODAY, April 14, 2025, and Israel’s war against Gaza would be over. Reconstruction would be underway right now.

But Israel made sure this would not happen.

The ceasefire agreement, first outlined in May 2024, was originally rejected by the Netanyahu administration, although Hamas had accepted it and the UN Security Council endorsed it nearly a year ago.

The ceasefire template had proven successful in November 2023, when the two sides had agreed to a brief truce, during which nearly half of the hostages (105 out of about 240) had been exchanged for Palestinian prisoners.

Since then, the Israeli military has extricated a handful of hostages (and bodies) in bloody attacks, and killed many in its airstrikes on Gaza, as well as several in friendly fire. Hamas released four others unilaterally.

Hamas made several more offers, but Israel rejected them.

In fact, Hamas had offered to return all of the hostages within just days of their capture in October 2023 – an offer that Netanyahu flatly refused. Most say his unwillingness was evidence that prioritized politics over humanity: extremist members of his cabinet demanded that he continue the war or topple the government; in addition, Netanyahu faces multiple corruption charges, and risks prison if he loses power.

Bottom line, if Netanyahu had wanted to end the war, bring the hostages home, and end the (nearly) worldwide condemnation – which had led to a “plausible genocide” verdict for the Israeli military in the International Court of Justice and a personal “war criminal” charge at the International Criminal Court – he could have done so long ago.

Instead, he has thwarted every attempt to cooperate in making peace and continued the genocide of the Palestinian people through every means.

Today, he demands the hostages again – at gunpoint.

Phase One – ceasefire violations, threats, Trump meddling

The January 2025 ceasefire called for a six-week halt in the fighting – “fighting” in which over 47,000 Palestinians and 405 Israeli soldiers had been killed. The deal commenced on January 19, 2025, and was set to end on March 1.

(Notably, if this essentially same agreement had been signed on May 31, 2024, at least 11,000 more Palestinians would be alive today.)

On February 10, US President Trump, apparently impatient with the slow pace of the release of hostages (33 over the course of 6 weeks), proposed that Netanyahu abandon the agreement and demand all of the hostages be returned at once:

As far as I’m concerned, if all of the hostages aren’t returned by Saturday [Feb. 15] at 12 o’clock, I think it’s an appropriate time. I would say, cancel it and all bets are off, and let hell break out. I’m speaking for myself. Israel can override it.

But from myself, Saturday at 12 o’clock, and if they’re not, they’re not here, all hell is going to break out.

A week later, Benjamin Netanyahu took a page from Trump’s script, declaring in a joint statement with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio that he would “open the gates of hell” if the hostages were not returned:

We can’t always share the details of this strategy with the public, including when the gates of hell will be opened, as they surely will if all our hostages are not released until the last one.

We will eliminate Hamas’ military capability and its political rule in Gaza. We will bring all our hostages home, and we will ensure that Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel.

The rhetoric made no reference to the signed ceasefire agreement.

To be clear, Israel had violated the Phase One terms repeatedly – by one count nearly 1,000 times, including killing over 130 Palestinians and blocking desperately needed aid. If Hamas violated the terms at all, the offenses were relatively minor.

Western mainstream media have left out many of these details.

Phase Two – never happened

On March 1, the day Phase One of the ceasefire was scheduled to end, Israel pushed for an extension in order to release more hostages; Hamas insisted on moving to Phase Two, as both parties had agreed.

The two sides were supposed to hammer out the details of Phase Two in February, but, as sources explained to the Financial Times,

Israel has avoided engaging in planned talks on the so-called second stage that was meant to fully end the conflict…It has left no discernible progress more than three weeks after the talks were supposed to start.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is instead seeking “a Phase One Plus,”…that would aim to secure the release of dozens of remaining hostages while avoiding any commitment to permanently stop the war or completely withdraw troops from Gaza.

In CNN’s words, “the Israeli government ignored [the February] deadline.”

With Hamas’ refusal to extend Phase One or release more hostages, and Israel’s refusal to enter or even negotiate Phase Two, Israeli PM Netanyahu declared a “hell plan” – a total blockade of all aid into Gaza. Since then, no food has entered Gaza, no fuel, no medical supplies, no shelter materials. What little electricity Israel was supplying to Gaza was cut off.

When almost the entire world condemned the weaponization of food (the US has been silent), an Israeli government spokesperson declared cynically that Hamas has “enough food to spark an obesity epidemic,” claiming without evidence that Hamas had for months been stealing supplies from humanitarian relief organizations.

On March 5, President Trump endorsed the Netanyahu government’s policy collective punishment (a war crime):

Release all of the Hostages now, not later, and immediately return all of the dead bodies of the people you murdered, or it is OVER for you…I am sending Israel everything it needs to finish the job, not a single Hamas member will be safe if you don’t do as I say…

Also, to the People of Gaza: A beautiful Future awaits, but not if you hold Hostages. If you do, you are DEAD! Make a SMART decision. RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW, OR THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY LATER!

Back to blockade, back to war

On March 18, the Israeli military resumed combat with a surprise attack, killing hundreds (mostly women and children, in some cases entire families), claiming that its objective was to force Hamas to release the remaining captives (which would have been done in Phase Two), and that Hamas was planning to attack Israel shortly.

Israel circled back to war thanks to a loophole built into the ceasefire agreement: Netanyahu had demanded that the deal leave open the option to resume attacks on Gaza after Phase One. This would have been a deal-breaker for Hamas – but mediators from Egypt, Qatar, and the US gave Hamas verbal guarantees that negotiations would continue, and that they would push Israel to follow through with Phases Two and Three.

But Israel reneged on the ceasefire deal it had signed, and the mediators were unable or unwilling to force the negotiations to continue.

CNN explains:

Under the terms of the second phase, Israel would have to withdraw entirely from Gaza and commit to a permanent end of the war. In exchange, Hamas would release all living hostages.

Israel has made clear it wants new terms. It wants Hamas to continue releasing hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners – but without any commitment to end the war or withdraw its military.

Hamas, which had operated in good faith, refused to release more hostages with nothing in return – fighting as it was to end Israel’s brutal occupation and crushing 18-year blockade on Gaza, as well as to gain release for some of the 10,000+ Palestinian political prisoners detained by Israel, many of whom had been tortured.

Netanyahu’s failure

A large swath of the Israeli public has been demonstrating for Netanyahu to comply with the ceasefire deal and end the war in order to bring the hostages home. With every day that the airstrikes and blockade continue, the odds grow that more hostages will die.

A growing number of Israeli military personnel are also growing impatient, recognizing the endless war as nothing more than a political ploy to keep the prime minister in power.

Israel is nowhere near achieving its war goal of destroying Hamas – the number of resistance fighters is estimated to be 40,000 (vs. 20,000-30,000 before October 2023), and a great majority of the group’s tunnels are still intact.

Globally, all of the violence and belligerence is turning Israel into a pariah state – the US as its “closest ally” is on its way to the same destination.

The global cost of supporting genocide

The most immediate cost of Israel’s actions is in the lives and deaths of the Palestinian people: Human Rights Watch uses the chilling phrase “war of extermination” to describe the horror. The Lancet indicates that the actual death toll is at least several times higher than the official count (now hovering near 51,000).

International law and the very laws of war are another casualty of Israel’s barbarity. Israel violates laws in broad daylight; the US (and at times, other states) wink. Netanyahu moves freely around the globe – and wins standing ovations from the US Congress – in spite of genocide and war crime charges.

Free speech has taken a hit in the US (and elsewhere), as politicians – at the behest of the Israel lobby – demand silence from Israel’s detractors.

The US government is sending Israel billions of dollars a year to kill innocents – money that could be spent on America’s veterans, the homeless, the uninsured, or any of a number of other worthy causes.

A world leader who prioritizes killing over rescuing, who revels in withholding food, medicine, and shelter from children – does not deserve our support. Nor should we endorse him as he breaks agreements, rebuffs international law, and excuses atrocities.

Instead, we must insist that our representatives defend the people of Gaza, uphold international law, and promote free speech.

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Contact the people in Washington DC who (allegedly) work for you and tell them, “ENOUGH. CEASEFIRE NOW. NO MORE WEAPONS TO ISRAEL. STOP THE GENOCIDE. NOW – OR YOU’RE FIRED.”

Reach your Representative here, and your Senator here.