The Israeli defence minister urged closer co-operation with the United States as he arrived in Washington in a period of renewed friction between President Biden and Binyamin Netanyahu.
Yoav Gallant met senior US officials as the Biden administration was said to have been stunned at the weekend by the Israeli prime minister’s comments, which again cast doubt on a proposed deal for a ceasefire in Gaza and the return of all remaining hostages held by Hamas.
Netanyahu told an Israeli broadcaster on Sunday that he was interested only in a “partial deal” with Hamas that would free “some of the hostages”. The comments have infuriated negotiators in the US and the Gulf who have been seeking to bridge the gaps with Hamas as Biden pushes for a deal to end the war.
In Washington, Gallant met Bill Burns, the CIA chief and leading US negotiator in the efforts to free the hostages. Contradicting Netanyahu, Gallant emphasised “Israel’s primary commitment to return the hostages, with no exception”.
Netanyahu backtracked on Monday, reaffirming his commitment to the hostage deal, but vowed that Israel would not end the war until it has eliminated Hamas. US officials have publicly questioned whether it is possible to eradicate the group.
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“I promise you … we will not end the war until we return all of our hostages — 120 hostages, the living and the deceased,” Netanyahu said in a speech on Monday at the Knesset. “We are committed to the Israeli proposal, which President Biden has welcomed. Our position has not changed.”
Netanyahu has not publicly committed himself to implementing the three-phase ceasefire deal approved by his cabinet and unveiled by Biden last month. One Israeli official admitted to Axios that the prime minister’s comments had done “serious damage” to the negotiations.
Officials in Qatar, the chief interlocutor with Hamas, told Israeli officials with the spy agency Mossad that Netanyahu’s remarks had undermined the talks “after they have been working day and night” to secure a deal.
Gallant also sought to smooth over comments by Netanyahu that the Biden administration was delaying or freezing some shipments of arms and ammunition to Israel. The US has strongly rejected this.
Gallant insisted in Washington that Israel’s alliance with America, which has been “led by the US over many years, is extremely important”. He also met Antony Blinken, the secretary of state, as the US signalled that Israel must develop a realistic plan for the governance of Gaza once the war is over.
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Before the meeting, Matthew Miller, the State Department spokesman, said that Blinken would stress the need to avoid further escalation of the conflict and to increase humanitarian access to Gaza. “We look to make progress on all of these issues,” Miller told reporters.
Alluding to Netanyahu’s comments on Sunday, Miller added: “Those of us who speak publicly sometime misspeak and when it happens we have an obligation to clarify and we are glad that he did.”
Gallant also held talks with Amos Hochstein and Brett McGurk, senior advisers to the president. He will meet Lloyd Austin, the defence secretary, on Tuesday.
The Israeli defence minister’s visit to Washington came as the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah launched further cross-border attacks which threaten to expand the war to Israel’s northern borders.
“We are prepared for any action that may be required in Gaza, Lebanon, and in more areas,” Gallant said before leaving for the US.
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• In north Israel’s ghost villages conflict with Hezbollah is already there
Hezbollah announced that it had launched another cross-border attack in retaliation for Israeli airstrikes on Saturday targeting Hamas commanders. Earlier, it published a video showing footage and co-ordinates of targets in Israel it threatened would be struck in the event of war.
The US and other countries have sought to de-escalate the simmering conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that has seen them trade cross-border strikes since the war in Gaza erupted in October.
Tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee towns on both sides of the border, with Israel threatening all-out war if Hezbollah continues its attacks.
Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader who commands tens of thousands of fighters and a massive arsenal of missiles, has threatened to fight without “constraints, rules or limits” if a war breaks out.
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The Iranian-backed group has launched its attacks to pressure Israel into ending the war in Gaza, which it launched after a Hamas attack on October 7 killed more than 1,100 Israelis and left more than 200 as hostages held in Gaza.
The US hopes now that a ceasefire in Gaza would defuse the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, but Hamas has refused to sign on to an American ceasefire proposal, insisting that it must guarantee a permanent end to the war and the withdrawal of Israeli troops.
On Sunday Binyamin Netanyahu said that the phase of “intense” fighting against Hamas was coming to an end but that the war would not be over until the group no longer controls Gaza. This will allow more Israeli troops to be deployed along the northern border, he said.
“After the intense phase is finished, we will have the possibility to move part of the forces north. And we will do this. First and foremost for defensive purposes. And secondly, to bring our [evacuated] residents home,” Netanyahu told Israel’s Channel 14.
“If we can we will do this diplomatically. If not, we will do it another way. But we will bring [the residents] home,” he said.
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Washington is also concerned by the potential for unrest in the West Bank, where Israeli soldiers have regularly clashed with gunmen and protesters.
A video that emerged on Saturday showing an Israeli military jeep driving through a West Bank city with a wounded Palestinian man tied to the bonnet caused widespread outrage and led to an Israeli military pledge to investigate the incident.
The man, who has been named as Mujahid Fayyad, was wounded in an exchange of fire during a “counterterrorism” operation, the Israeli military said.
“In violation of orders and standard operating procedures, the suspect was taken by the forces while tied on top of a vehicle,” it said in a statement. “The conduct of the forces in the video of the incident does not conform to the values of the IDF,” it said, adding that he was later handed over to Palestinian medics.
Francesca Albanese, who holds the title of UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, denounced the incident as “human shielding.”
Israel, the US and Britain have previously accused Hamas in Gaza of using civilians as human shields by positioning their fighters and weapons in civilian facilities.
Human rights groups had also criticised Israel for forcing civilians to enter the hideouts of wanted suspects and persuade them to surrender. The practice was outlawed by the Israeli Supreme Court in 2005.
