Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during consultations with the heads of the security services and in a meeting of the political-security cabinet yesterday that "Israel will receive full American support in order to eliminate Hamas and do whatever it wants in Gaza," according to what the Walla website reported today, Wednesday, quoting a senior Israeli source.

The source added that Netanyahu seemed much less enthusiastic about everything related to the prisoners held in Gaza, and that he spoke during the cabinet meeting about "the need to separate personal grief over the situation of the kidnapped soldiers from his national responsibility as prime minister."

The source said that "the approach among many cabinet ministers was that Israel should fully adopt Trump's ultimatum (to Hamas to release all Israeli prisoners next Saturday, or end the ceasefire) as a new Israeli policy, and abandon the current framework of the kidnapped deal," which is being conducted through negotiations and mediators.

“There was an atmosphere of euphoria at the cabinet meeting, as if all our problems in Gaza had now been solved, because Trump said something,” he added, adding that “Trump’s ultimatum and his plan for Gaza convinced many in the Israeli government that there was no need to negotiate the second stage of the agreement or discuss ending the war or withdrawing from Gaza until further notice,” and that “the atmosphere among the ministers during the meeting was that the Israeli government could not be less determined than Trump on this issue.”

Two senior Israeli sources said that the heads of the Israeli negotiating team, including Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, "begged the ministers not to escalate the situation and to give the Qatari and Egyptian mediators a chance to reach a solution that would guarantee the release of the three kidnapped soldiers next Saturday," according to Walla.

They added that during the consultations and the cabinet meeting, Netanyahu spoke of a "huge and unprecedented opportunity" for Israel now with Trump in the White House for the next four years.

According to Walla, "Netanyahu told Trump during their meeting at the White House last week that he wanted to hold serious negotiations on the second stage of the kidnapped soldiers deal. But after Trump saw the difficult physical condition of the three kidnapped soldiers who were released last Saturday, he began to lose patience with the phased structure of the deal."

Walla added that Netanyahu decided to take a middle path regarding Trump's ultimatum, which is to not adopt the ultimatum in its entirety and to maintain a maximum level of blackout. The quotes attributed to a "political official" that were issued following the cabinet meeting yesterday only caused confusion regarding the latest Israeli position on the ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement.

Netanyahu said in a video after the cabinet meeting that if "Hamas does not release our kidnapped soldiers" by Saturday, the IDF would resume the war, but Walla noted that Netanyahu did not explicitly demand the release of "all of the kidnapped soldiers" on Saturday. But then another brief statement was issued, saying that "the prime minister and the cabinet are sticking to President Trump's statement about the kidnapped soldiers. That is, they must all be released."

According to Walla, "Israeli officials still hope that Netanyahu's ultimatum will keep the door open to reach a solution that will allow the release of the kidnapped soldiers next Saturday as originally planned," meaning the release of three Israeli prisoners.

A senior Israeli source was quoted as saying that Israel informed Egypt and Qatar that "they must ensure that Hamas does not violate the agreement next Saturday. The possibility of releasing the kidnapped soldiers on Saturday has decreased significantly. This is very worrying. We hope that the mediators understand the situation and save the deal."