TEL AVIV — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s top aides find themselves on an urgent mission to Washington this week, in a desperate bid to free Israel from the Gaza quagmire into which it has sunk. 

Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi are consulting with the Trump administration, including presidential envoy Steve Witkoff, on various options designed to advance a deal with Hamas. The proposals range from imposing a siege on Gaza City, annexing part of Gaza, increasing pressure on Qatar (the lead mediator for the talks), and moving ahead with the so-called humanitarian city, in southern Gaza, to which the Palestinian population would be forced to relocate.

After seeming progress in mediated Hamas-Israeli negotiations in Qatar last week, talks hit a snag, and Israel and the United States called their teams home last Thursday.  

The current consultations in Washington reflect Israel’s failure to translate its battlefield victories over Iran and Tehran's regional allies into a cudgel for ending the 22-month war in Gaza and obtaining the release of the Israeli hostages held there. Despite crushing Hamas as a viable military organization and assassinating most of the extremist group's leadership, Israel remains bogged down in Gaza as Netanyahu tries to secure an exit strategy.