Netanyahu condemns negotiating team for 'false statements' on hostage talks

During a meeting of the war cabinet, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized members of the team negotiating the release of hostages.

"The false briefings from the negotiating team only hinder our efforts to bring back the abducted. They create despair among the families of the abducted and cause Hamas to take a harder stance," Netanyahu stated.

Netanyahu urged dissatisfied negotiators to leave the team if they disagreed with the decisions of the political leadership.

"If someone on the negotiating team expresses disagreement with the political leadership's decision solely for the sake of anonymous and false headlines in the media, while pursuing political agendas, they should have the decency to leave," he added.

More than a week ago, during the Uvda program on Keshet-12 TV channel, several members of the negotiating team blamed the government, particularly the prime minister, for the breakdown of negotiations with Hamas. They highlighted a significant gap between the government's claims of doing everything possible to free the hostages and the actual actions taken.

One team member remarked, "I can't say that without Netanyahu the deal would have been done by now, but I will say that the likelihood of a deal would have been higher." The same member mentioned that negotiations had effectively stalled since January.

"This happens repeatedly: during the day, we receive a mandate to negotiate, and at night, the head of government calls and demands, 'Don't say this' or 'I did not approve of this,'" the team member disclosed.