Members of Israel’s negotiating team are reportedly displeased with the conduct of their new leader, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tapped Dermer — one of his closest confidants — to head the team last month after the premier sidelined Mossad chief David Barnea and Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar.

Dermer is seen as more aligned with Netanyahu’s approach in the talks, which has been less compromising than that of the security chiefs.

The latter group has argued that Israel can afford to make concessions to Hamas in order to secure the release of the hostages who are living in dangerously unsafe conditions. Netanyahu and Dermer have taken a harder line — which US special envoy to the Mideast Steve Witkoff appeared to characterize on Friday as one that prioritizes exerting military pressure on Hamas.

It is why Netanyahu and Dermer have abandoned the phased ceasefire framework that Israel signed onto in January, which was supposed to see phase two commence at the beginning of March. That phase envisioned the release of the remaining living hostages in exchange for a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a permanent end to the war.

Netanyahu has insisted that he will not end the war before Hamas’s governing and military capabilities have been dismantled.

Instead, he and Dermer have pushed for a temporary extension of phase one, under which Hamas would release more hostages.

Accepting the Israeli aversion to phase two, Witkoff last week proposed an extension of the ceasefire through the end of next month’s Passover holiday. During that time, five living hostages would be released in exchange for a large number of Palestinian security prisoners.

Hamas rejected the offer, leading Israel to resume fighting on March 18 for the first time in roughly two months.

An Israeli member of the........

© The Times of Israel