Newly revealed document shows PM made major changes to US-backed hostage deal outline

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  1. >A copy of a document alleged to be the amended hostage release-ceasefire deal proposal submitted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on July 27 was published by the Ynet news site on Tuesday, highlighting for the first time the differences between the May 27 proposal revealed by US President Joe Biden and the changes made by the premier, including the demand for a permanent Israeli presence along the Philadelphi Corridor, two months later.

    >On July 7, Netanyahu presented Israel’s hostage negotiating team with a list of what he said were four nonnegotiable demands that must be met in order for Israel to move ahead with the US-backed proposal. Included among the demands was the stipulation that Israel must remain in control of the Philadelphi Corridor, which runs along the Gaza-Egypt border, as well as the Netzarim Corridor and the Rafah border crossing.

    >While the premier has continued to insist that he did not add anything to the hostage deal proposal, and simply clarified the stipulations that had already been laid out, the demand did not feature in the May 27 proposal, but is present in the amended version, known as the “clarification document” but dubbed the “Netanyahu Outline” by Ynet.

    >Speaking to Ynet, an unnamed senior Israeli official lamented Netanyahu’s changes to the US-backed proposal, and accused him of intentionally sabotaging the extended efforts to reach a deal with Hamas.

    >“History will one day judge this document very harshly,” the official said. “In my opinion, the most fitting nickname for it is the ‘document of blood’ — because its pages are stained with the blood of the six hostages who were murdered in the tunnel in Rafah.”

    >“If it weren’t for the intentional sabotage within this document, intended to prevent a deal, there is a good chance that they would have been released last month and would be here with us, alive,” the official added.

    >The Hostages Families Forum said on Tuesday evening that the publication of the so-called Netanyahu Outline meant that the premier could “no longer claim that he is not torpedoing or thwarting the deal.” The document is “another nail in the coffin for the deal that would return the hostages,” it continued. “Enough with the deception and the abandonment. Enough about lying to the public and enough with the spins about Philadelphi. For how long will the hostages be murdered in captivity while Netanyahu plays with maps and public opinion?”

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