Israeli security cabinet chose starvation policy in Gaza over deal to free captives

The Cradle - Aug. 7, 2025

Hebrew media cited leaked documents showing that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu actively pursued a policy of starvation in a bid to bring about Hamas’s surrender.

The documents also show that Netanyahu refused to move forward with Phase 2 of the last ceasefire deal – despite internal warnings urging him to secure a release of captives before returning to fighting.

The documents confirmed that Netanyahu and the war cabinet “instructed the [army] to stop all humanitarian aid and close the Rafah crossing” in early March.

“The only chance to get hostages released is to discuss Phase B conditions,” Major General Nitzan Alon – who is in charge of the captives’ issue – told ministers, according to the meeting records. Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar said, “My preferred option is to reach Phase B. We can resume the war afterward.”

Netanyahu refused and insisted the war would not end while Hamas remained in power.

“If Hamas returns even a number of hostages – less than half – that’s excellent,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz was cited as saying.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich lashed out at ministers, saying, “You’re misleading the public into thinking we can stop the war and return to it later … That’s ignorance,” according to the leaked documents.

The report confirms that Hamas acted in “good faith.”

“We thought the talks would explode once we entered them – and that didn’t happen,” the documents cite Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer as saying.

However, Netanyahu rejected making a deal and bet on besieging and starving two million Palestinians in an effort to force Hamas to surrender. On 18 March, the war resumed with intensity, collapsing the ceasefire and negotiations.

“The report definitively proves what we’ve been saying for a year and a half – a comprehensive deal to bring all captives home was possible,” said the Israeli Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

Months later, the Gaza Strip is now facing a widespread and unprecedented famine. Dozens of people, including children, have died from starvation in recent weeks, as Palestinians continue to be gunned down by soldiers while receiving minimal amounts of aid via the US-Israeli Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

Ceasefire talks collapsed recently after Israel withdrew from the negotiations over disagreements about withdrawal from Gaza and ending the war.

Despite numerous internal warnings about the danger to Israeli captives, the government is now moving ahead with plans for a full takeover and occupation of new areas in the strip, including Gaza City and central Gaza.

The plan is reportedly aimed at destroying Hamas's capabilities and pressuring it to release the 50 captives it still holds. It would begin with taking over Gaza City and refugee camps in the central strip, displacing around half of the population southward toward the Mawasi area, where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians already reside.

It is expected to be approved at a security cabinet meeting on Thursday.

REPORT via Channel 13: Leaked Israeli Records Show Government Pursued Starvation Strategy to Force Hamas Surrender Channel 13 has published internal Israeli government transcripts from March 2025 revealing that Israel’s war cabinet knowingly restricted all humanitarian aid to Gaza in hopes it would break Hamas—a strategy that inflicted mass suffering but failed to deliver desired results.

The records also show that Israel was not met with resistance or bad faith in negotiations with Hamas — yet it broke the ceasefire and escalated anyway.

These classified internal “protocols” (meeting records) shared by the Israeli news outlet show that top military and intelligence leaders urged Netanyahu to move forward to “Phase B” of the already agreed ceasefire deal—arguing that all captives could be released if talks moved to negotiating terms to end the war.

They believed even a temporary pause in fighting could bring the captives home, and that Israel could resume the war afterward anyway.

Netanyahu rejected them.

➤ IDF captives chief Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon told ministers: “The only chance to get hostages released is to discuss Phase B conditions.”

➤ Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar supported the move: “My preferred option is to reach Phase B. We can resume the war afterward.”

➤ The Mossad also backed this approach—but Prime Minister Netanyahu refused, insisting there would be no end to the war while Hamas remained in power.

➤ Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich lashed out at the intelligence officials: “You’re misleading the public into thinking we can stop the war and return to it later… That’s ignorance.”

➤ Defense Minister Israel Katz supported a partial deal, saying: “If Hamas returns even a number of hostages—less than half—that’s excellent.” Instead of advancing the deal, Netanyahu chose escalation — betting that blockading and starving 2 million Palestinians would force Hamas to surrender.

➤ Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer said the Israeli war cabinet expected negotiations to collapse — giving Israel a pretext to resume the war. But that didn’t happen.

“We thought the talks would explode once we entered them — and that didn’t happen.”

Israel unilaterally broke the ceasefire anyway and resumed the killings in March.

Five months later, 50 living and dead captives remain.

Food classification bodies have stated the “worst-case scenario of famine” is unfolding in Gaza.

The Israeli government bet on famine. Its own records confirm it, and the strategy failed.

It inflicted mass suffering, further shattered Israel’s global standing, and did not move Hamas.

The Hostage Families Forum called the revelations “damning,” saying the government “knowingly and deliberately sabotaged” rescue deals and “led the public astray.”