Hamas is ready to release all remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza at once in exchange for a permanent ceasefire, The Times of Israel reported on Thursday, citing a senior Palestinian official.
The report said that Israel has had a “longstanding rejection” of this kind of deal, and that’s why Hamas recently proposed it could release five hostages to renew a temporary ceasefire. However, Hamas also wanted a guarantee that Israel would commit to entering negotiations on reaching a permanent truce, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to do.
Israel countered Hamas’s offer with a proposal for Hamas to release 11 hostages that didn’t include any commitment to hold talks on a permanent ceasefire. The senior Palestinian official speaking to the Times said that after the Israeli counterproposal, negotiations are at a “standstill.”
“The number of hostages is not the issue. If Israel demonstrates its intention to reach a permanent ceasefire, [Hamas is] prepared to release all of the hostages,” the Palestinian official said. “Israel only wants a partial agreement so that it can continue fighting. It wants [Hamas] to give up all the hostages without entering the second phase.”
Under the ceasefire deal signed in January, the second phase would have involved a permanent truce and full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. But Netanyahu refused to enter talks on the second phase and violated the agreement in multiple ways before restarting the genocidal war on March 18.
Israeli officials are demanding that Hamas not only release the hostages but also disarm and that its leaders leave Gaza. The senior Palestinian official said that Hamas was willing to cede control of Gaza to other Palestinians as part of a deal but that it would “never disarm” before the creation of a Palestinian state.
The official said that President Trump is the only person capable of ending Israel’s genocidal campaign on Gaza but that he has decided to “give Netanyahu a green light to open the gates of hell on Gaza.”
The US has fully supported Israel unilaterally ending the ceasefire deal and imposing a total blockade on all goods entering Gaza. Since March 18, US-backed Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians, including many children.
