Former Biden administration official Phil Gordon said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu introduced a series of new conditions against the advice of his own security chiefs, making a hostage deal impossible for another six months after July 2024, in a post cited by the Jerusalem Post.

According to Gordon, during that period nearly 9,000 additional Palestinians were killed and more Israeli hostages died, including the six executed by Hamas in August. Among the new demands cited by Gordon was retaining Israeli forces along Gaza's entire border with Egypt — a stretch the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had seized only after the original proposal had already been made — as well as a screening mechanism for Palestinians returning north.