With negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal having stalled, Israel has sent a message to Hamas that if it doesn’t accept the proposal on the table in the coming days, Jerusalem will begin to take punitive measures against it, including the annexation of territory on Gaza’s outer perimeter, senior Israeli officials told Kan and Channel 13 news on Wednesday.

The reports came as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with a small group of top aides and ministers to discuss ongoing efforts to make some progress toward a deal with Hamas.

Talks slowly continue in Cairo a week after Israel and the US pulled their negotiation teams from Qatar amid reported frustrations with Hamas’s inflexibility and introduction of new terms in its last proposal.

According to a senior Israeli official speaking to Channel 12, Jerusalem on Tuesday night gave mediators a document with key points in response to Hamas’s unsatisfactory reply last week, including its red lines on troop deployments and prisoner releases.

According to the report, Israel told Hamas that it will not leave the Phildelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border or the buffer zone around the Gaza border; will not allow the opening of the Rafah Crossing; and will not agree to Hamas demands for a prisoner release so far-reaching it will leave few bargaining chips in Jerusalem’s hands to compel Hamas to release the last batch of hostages in a potential ceasefire.

Israel assumes Hamas will not show any further flexibility, the report added.

“Israel will not be patient for much longer,” a senior Israeli official said.

However, Channel 12 reported that there was currently no appetite in the White House to greenlight an Israeli move to annex parts of the Strip.

Meanwhile, United States special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff traveled to Israel on Wednesday amid growing concern in the Trump administration over the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.

Mounting reports of an increasingly dire situation in the Palestinian enclave, including rising deaths from malnutrition and starvation, have sparked global outrage as well as concern from US President Donald Trump.

Witkoff’s visit, which was first reported by Axios, is his first to the country since May, and comes amid the stalled ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas — for which both Jerusalem and Washington have blamed the terror group.

An Israeli official confirmed Wikoff’s trip to The Times of Israel, with a US official following suit, telling reporters that the envoy was traveling and would “meet with officials to discuss next steps in addressing the situation in Gaza.”

“The president wants to know more about what the humanitarian........

© The Times of Israel