Former Biden official: Netanyahu blocked July 2024 hostage deal, prolonged war by six months

Former Biden administration official Phil Gordon rejected claims that Brett McGurk's book vindicates Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's conduct of the Gaza war. Gordon alleged that Netanyahu blocked a July 2024 hostage deal after Hamas accepted the basic framework, introducing additional conditions against the advice of his own security chiefs, prolonging the war by six months.

Former Biden administration official Phil Gordon on Saturday rejected attempts by supporters of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to portray Brett McGurk's new book and interviews as vindication of Netanyahu's conduct of the war in Gaza. Writing on X, Gordon argued that McGurk's account omitted a significant episode: a July 4, 2024 phone call in which President Biden pressed Netanyahu to conclude a hostage deal after Hamas had accepted the basic framework, dropping its demand for a permanent ceasefire before any hostage release. Rather than agreeing, Gordon alleged, Netanyahu introduced additional conditions against the advice of his own security chiefs, including a demand to retain Israeli forces along Gaza's entire border with Egypt and a new enforcement mechanism to screen Gazans returning to the north. Gordon said these conditions made a deal impossible for another six months, during which nearly 9,000 additional Palestinians were killed and more Israeli hostages died, including six executed by Hamas in August. Both conditions were ultimately dropped from the January 2025 agreement. Gordon sharply criticized Netanyahu's broader handling of the war, accusing him of prioritizing "total victory" and coalition maintenance over a hostage deal or ending the war, and arguing that his conduct left Israel "more isolated and insecure" and "deeply damaged, perhaps irreparably, Israel's relationship with the United States."