Gov't Spox Shuts Down Ceasefire Talks

Israeli gov't spox claiming that there will be no Gaza ceasefire, with Dan Williams at Reuters reporting the spox as stating that "Israel will not give up on destroying Hamas, returning all hostages and Gaza no longer posing threat," Reuters reported earlier today that "Israel and Hamas broadly agree in principle that an exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners could take place during a month-long ceasefire, but the framework plan is being held up by the two sides' differences over how to bring a permanent end to the Gaza war,"

• The gov't of PM Benjamin Netanyahu is coming under pressure over the situation of the war. Domestically, there remains significant public anger at the lack of progress in securing the release of Israeli's taken hostage on 7 Oct. The death of 24 IDF soldiers on 23 Jan represented the Israeli military's highest casualty count since the Hamas attacks has not blunted public support for the war. However, support for Netanyahu's Likud Party has fallen to multi-year lows. Two recent polls show Likud winning just 16 seats, a result that would represent the party's worst election return since 2006.
• Right-wingers in the Israeli gov't have pushed backon the claims. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich claimed that "Stopping the war at such sensitive timing could endanger the entire operation and bring about huge costs in the Gaza Strip and other fronts,". Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir posted on X that he was "in favor of returning the hostages, against an awful deal."