Kan 11 reveals IDF Chief Herzi Halevi pushed a single-phase May 2024 plan to free all hostages and finish Hamas, but Netanyahu dismissed it outright.
The IDF and then-Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi tried in May 2024 to push Israel’s leadership toward a bold plan: secure the release of all hostages in one agreement, clearing the way for Hamas’ decisive defeat without operational constraints. According to Kan 11 News, the political echelon — led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — rejected the initiative outright.
In the months before the ground incursion into Rafah, Halevi advanced a single-phase proposal linking the immediate return of hostages to an end-of-war framework. Officers from the Operations and Strategic Divisions drafted scenarios showing how Hamas could be eliminated once Israel was no longer constrained by the fate of captives.
But at a closed cabinet meeting, Netanyahu reportedly branded the idea a “defeat.” Sources said the proposal was buried so quickly it never reached Israel’s negotiating team. Instead, the government adopted a multi-phase framework: only after full implementation would the release of all hostages and the end of the war be achieved. Netanyahu later blocked the second phase, designed to secure the release of the remaining living hostages.
Today, Netanyahu’s position has hardened. His office declared last month: “We will agree to a deal in which all hostages are released in one go and in accordance with our terms for ending the war.”
Those conditions, set by the Security Cabinet, remain:
- The release of all hostages.
- The disarmament of Hamas.
- The demilitarization of Gaza.
- Full Israeli security control in the Strip.
- A new civilian administration in Gaza that rejects terrorism and poses no threat to Israel.
Earlier this week, Hamas claimed it was ready to discuss a “comprehensive deal” but repeated its preconditions, which Israel has deemed unacceptable.
Defense Minister Israel Katz dismissed Hamas’ overture as empty spin: “Hamas must choose between two options: accept Israel’s conditions for ending the war, or Gaza will become another Rafah and Beit Hanoun.”
As the IDF prepares for a full-scale operation to seize Gaza City, the question lingers: had Halevi’s proposal been accepted last year, would Israel already have ended both the hostage crisis and Hamas’ grip on Gaza?
