After Netanyahu's speech, a senior administration official told reporters that a hostage deal is in -- quote -- "the closing stages."

But this official acknowledged there is no agreement yet between Israel and Hamas on the transition from a temporary to a permanent cease-fire.

To delve more into what Netanyahu said and did not say, we're joined by Tom Malinowski, a two-term Democratic member of the House from New Jersey and a former top State Department human rights official under Barack Obama, and Kirsten Fontenrose, who served on the Trump National Security Council, focused on the Middle East and was also an official in both the State and Defense departments.

Welcome to "News Hour."

Welcome back to "News Hour."

Thanks very much to you both.

Kirsten Fontenrose, let me start with you.

What did you think of Benjamin Netanyahu's speech?

KIRSTEN FONTENROSE, The Atlantic Council: I think he hit the points he came to hit.

He both thanked the Biden administration, gave credit where it was due for their support for his policy, which also makes it a little harder for a Kamala Harris campaign to deviate from that policy.

He also set the stage for what he hopes will be a successful meeting with former President Trump this coming Friday by thanking President Trump for the work he did during his administration.

He also linked his war in Gaza against several fronts, including the Houthis and Hezbollah, with America's confrontation of Iran, essentially making the point, our war is your war.

We are fighting them here, so you do not have to fight them at home.

And I think that is a point that resonates on both sides of the aisle.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Tom Malinowski, is Israel's war the U.S. war?

FMR.

REP. TOM MALINOWSKI (D-NJ): The war against Hamas was a fight that all Americans and people all around the world were willing and happy to support Israel in waging after the just unspeakable evil of what Hamas did to innocent Israelis on that horrible day.

But they -- we often say that Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.

I think Israel has also missed an opportunity.

There was an opportunity to build a truly broad anti-Hamas, anti-terror, anti-Iran coalition, but it would have required Prime Minister Netanyahu to do something he is unwilling to do.

And that is to meet his potential allies halfway by presenting at least a pathway to a Palestinian state, to a two-state solution.

What I heard today was, OK, he was less partisan than he might have been.

He gave -- he was gracious to President Biden, but I heard no forward progress on the hostage issue for the families that were waiting for something.

And I heard a vision for the future of the Middle East and the future of Gaza that is completely disconnected from reality.

And I couldn't help thinking that, as he was speaking, his own defense minister is telling us that Netanyahu is moving, is sending Israel into a very dark future.

His own security establishment thinks that he's placing his own political interests ahead of the interests of the security of Israel.

And I feel like, if you are pro-Israel, as I am, how can you provide unconditional support and unconditional applause to a man who, according to his own security officials and most of the Israeli people, is doing so much to hurt Israel's own interests?

NICK SCHIFRIN: Kirsten Fontenrose, is Benjamin Netanyahu, as his critics say, extending the war in order to extend his own political power?

KIRSTEN FONTENROSE: I don't think it's really up to him.

Granted, the Knesset probably cannot dissolve his government while they are out of session, which ends this Sunday.

But this war is being extended by the parties on the other side as readily as it is by Israel.

You have the Houthis, who just recently launched new attacks using drones.

Hezbollah sends about 150 rockets and missiles across that border every day.

This war is being extended.

It's being managed, but it's certainly already being extended.

NICK SCHIFRIN: And so, Tom Malinowski, respond to that.

The fact is that Hezbollah opened fire itself on October the 8th and has fired hundreds or thousands of rockets into Israel.

Hamas continues to attack Israelis not only in Gaza, but inside Israel.

So... FMR.

REP. TOM MALINOWSKI: They want to extend the war.

NICK SCHIFRIN: ... Netanyahu's defenders say, we're doing what we have to do.

FMR.

REP. TOM MALINOWSKI: Of course.

They're extending -- they love this situation.

I mean, I agree with Netanyahu that Hamas doesn't care about Palestinian lives.

Hamas is happy to see Palestinians in Gaza die.

Hezbollah is happy to see that.

The Houthis are happy to see this.

Iran is happy to see this.

And this is why so many people inside Israel, including members of Netanyahu's own party, who are responsible day to day for the security of the state of Israel, are urging him to take the opportunity to end the conflict that is benefiting Israel's enemies.

But I think he won't do it because, well, there's a political dynamic at play and because he is ideologically against the one thing that is necessary to bring the world together to actually help him in Gaza and to create a durable solution.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Let's talk about the hostage deal itself, Kirsten Fontenrose, on the table.

Six weeks would pause the war.

That would be the first phase.

It would release more than 30 hostages.

We did not hear from Netanyahu what these hostage families who traveled to Washington, D.C., wanted to hear, some kind of full-throated endorsement of that deal.

Benny Gantz, the opposition leader today, accused Netanyahu of stalling and not wanting that deal.

Why do you think Netanyahu has not publicly endorsed this deal, or should he?

KIRSTEN FONTENROSE: He did mention during his speech that, even while I'm speaking, actions are being taken toward this deal.

And he is sending people to negotiate again on Thursday.

Some would say that's too many days away from now.

But it is at least a negotiation continuing to happen.

There's so many questions still left unanswered in this.

Will that full withdrawal include the Philadelphi Corridor, for instance, south of... NICK SCHIFRIN: The corridor between Gaza and Egypt.

KIRSTEN FONTENROSE: Right.

Right.

Exactly.

So, there are a lot of real, concrete details that are not ironed out yet.

Who will oversee the withdrawal?

Who will be holding each party accountable during this time period?

A lot of these answers still need to be provided by the international community, as well as by Israel and Hamas.

It is argued that Hamas was the spoiler for quite some time and now Israel is kind of dragging its feet.

And there's definitely truth to that.

But I think it is probably because of some of these unanswered questions.

He cannot full-throatedly agree to this hostage deal without some of these questions being answered.

Otherwise, he doesn't know what to tell his IDF soldiers who are sitting in Rafah waiting for the remnants of Hamas to come out of the tunnels and to take care of them if he agrees to something that unequivocally pulls them at the very end of what could be a definitive operation.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Tom Malinowski, let me ask you about the protesters.

Netanyahu called them -- quote -- "useful idiots" for Iran.

Are they?

FMR.

REP. TOM MALINOWSKI: If you look at the protesters who are flying the Hamas flag and burning the American flag... NICK SCHIFRIN: You mean they're flying the Palestinian flag.

FMR.

REP. TOM MALINOWSKI: I would say that they - - if Netanyahu had paid those protesters, they couldn't be more helpful to him, because he wants to go back to Israel and say, the alternative to me is we give in to people who are calling for the destruction of the state of Israel.

And so then he doesn't have to listen to the two-thirds of the Israeli public that would prefer a hostage deal to continuing the war.

He doesn't have to listen to the most pro-Israel American president in the history, Joe Biden, who has been trying to help him out of this situation.

That said, I think he was unfairly disdainful to the many people in the United States, including people who are deeply committed to the defense of Israel, who have legitimate concerns about the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Kirsten Fontenrose, you brought up Vice President Harris.

Today, she was not there.

Her staff said that she had a scheduling conflict.

But she has been a little bit ahead of President Biden in the past on her criticism of Israel.

And let's take a listen to something that she said back in March.

KAMALA HARRIS, Vice President of the United States (D) and U.S. Presidential Candidate: People in Gaza are starving.

The conditions are inhumane.

And our common humanity compels us to act.

And given the immense scale of suffering in Gaza, there must be an immediate cease-fire.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Kirsten Fontenrose, quickly, in the time we have left, Israelis believe Harris would push an end for the war in Gaza more than President Biden would.

There will be a difference between Harris and Biden.

Do you think they're right?

KIRSTEN FONTENROSE: I think they are right that she might push for that, but really even a President Harris could only do so if she tied, for instance, American support to Israeli military activities to that cease-fire, and that would require approval of the Senate.

So it really depends on more than just her own election.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Kirsten Fontenrose, Tom Malinowski, we will have to stop there.

Thanks very much.

FMR.

REP. TOM MALINOWSKI: Thank you.

KIRSTEN FONTENROSE: Thank you.