American officials claimed that the United States is continuing to press “with full force” to reach a prisoner exchange deal and a truce between Israel and the Hamas movement, and they said that “if it is confirmed to us that Netanyahu is obstructing this for internal political reasons, this matter will lead to a direct clash with the White House” They were quoted by Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

The American officials continued that Israel and Hamas "do not make our lives easy, and this will not deter us as we focus on the deal."

They added, "Netanyahu must do anything for there to be a deal. If we come to the conclusion that he is not working logically and is obstructing the deal, this will be difficult for us, and there will be no escape from reaching a point of conflict."

They pointed to Biden's criticisms against Netanyahu's government, and that he no longer refrains from calling for a "ceasefire," and they considered that "what we heard from the president is only the beginning. If we reach the conclusion that the prime minister (Netanyahu) is stalling for internal political reasons, we will hear from Biden much stronger words."

American officials indicated that a prisoner exchange deal is a necessary first step in a larger plan, whose goal is to change the face of the Middle East, and includes a settlement with Lebanon mediated by Biden’s envoy to the Middle East, Amos Hochstein, the normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and the beginning of the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip and the involvement of a certain authority. Palestine, and the continuation of the path towards a Palestinian state.

They added that it is not expected that Israel will soon agree to a Palestinian state, and that “the idea of calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state is a vision, and there are many steps on the way towards it, and the question is what will happen in Gaza and the role of the Palestinian Authority in it. 

Therefore, we will not allow Netanyahu to obstruct this just because he wants to please Ben Gvir and his supporter base in Likud. But it is clear to all of us that without a prisoner exchange deal nothing will happen, so the focus now is on the deal.”