Hostage negotiations fell apart last week, and as a result, Israel withdrew its representatives from Qatar.By Vered Weiss, World Israel NewsSpeaking on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed Hamas’ “obstinacy” for the failure of hostage negotiations and reportedly considered annexing parts of Gaza, according to The Times of Israel.Hostage negotiations fell apart last week, and as a result, Israel withdrew its representatives from Qatar.On Tuesday, Netanyahu met with advisers to discuss ways to release the 50 hostages remaining in Gaza, 20 of whom are believed to still be alive.In a post on X, Netanyahu said he is meeting with advisers constantly regarding the release of the hostages, writing, “There was a meeting [about the hostages] yesterday. Two days ago, there was a meeting. The day before that, there was a meeting, too.”“Since the delegation returned from Qatar, we haven’t stopped trying,” he said. “But there is one major obstacle, and everyone knows it — Hamas. It remains obstinate in its refusal.”Netanyahu expressed his desire to meet the war’s goals and ensure the hostages are brought back home.An Israeli defense official told The Times of Israel that the talks are currently “frozen” and that “Hamas hasn’t come back to the table.”The official said that the notion of annexing Gaza was brought up at several of the meetings.Maariv reported that Netanyahu recently met with ministers, during which he framed the idea of annexing Gaza and wanted to explore it as an option.Last week, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said that the U.S. and Israel would explore “alternative options” after the collapse of the hostage talks.Former U.S. President Donald Trump indicated that he would support military efforts to “get rid of” Hamas.“Now possibly the fight will have to be a little bit different,” Trump said in Scotland on Monday, adding that he told Netanyahu, “You’re going to have to now maybe do it a different way.”The post As Hamas’ ‘obstinacy’ blocks a hostage deal, Netanyahu mulls Gaza annexation appeared first on World Israel News.