Israel on Monday rejected a proposal crafted by Hamas for a partial deal that would see the release of five hostages.
“[The proposal is] very far away from the outline that we are willing to negotiate on,” an Israeli official told The Jerusalem Post.
The proposal was formulated by Hamas and passed on to the US through direct backchannel communications. The US then presented the proposal to Israel. Notably, the US didn’t say whether it supported the proposal or not.
The proposal included the release of five living hostages in return for the following points: IDF withdrawing to its positions in Gaza from two months ago, allowing humanitarian aid into all areas of Gaza, continued talks for the release of remaining living and dead hostages, what was described as “some kind of American recognition of Hamas.”
The Trump administration opened up a communications channel with Hamas via Palestinian-American businessman and author, Bishara Bahbah, who serves as the chair of Arab Americans for Peace, according to his X/Twitter profile.
Bahbah enabled the communications for this proposal, as well as the talks that formulated the release of freed hostage Edan Alexander.
Separately, US President Donald Trump said that he wants to end the war in Gaza “as quickly as possible,” he told reporters on Sunday before boarding Air Force One on his way back from New Jersey to Washington.
Trump stated, “We want to see if we can stop it. And we’ve talked to Israel, we want to see if we can stop this whole situation as quickly as possible.” he added that he hopes there’ll be good news on that issue.
In his first press conference since December 2024, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday called the offensive in Gaza “an unprecedented operation in the history of wars” and publicly stated that there are 20 hostages still alive in Gaza.
‘We are prepared for a temporary ceasefire to return hostages’
“We have returned, so far, 197 hostages, of whom 148 are alive. Twenty are alive; we will return them all,” he said.
“If there is an opportunity for a temporary ceasefire to return hostages, we are prepared for it,” he added.
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