Israel has indirectly presented Hamas with an outline for a “comprehensive” deal to end the Gaza war that sources dismissed as another time-buying tactic by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.
The sources told The National on Sunday the proposal was handed to Hamas on Friday through veteran Israeli peace activist and researcher Gershon Baskin, who took part in the negotiations that secured the 2011 release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit after five years of captivity in Gaza.
The sources said the proposal envisaged the release of all hostages held by Hamas – about 48, of whom 20 are believed to be still alive – and for Hamas to lay down its heavy weapons and have them stored under Egyptian supervision.
Other provisions stipulate that Hamas should halt its arms manufacturing, freeze the recruitment of fighters and give up its network of underground tunnels.
It also provides for the exit from Gaza of Hamas leaders along with guarantees that they would not be attacked while living in exile abroad.
However, the sources said the proposal generally lacked details or even a mention of issues such as Israel's withdrawal from Gaza – a Hamas condition for agreeing to a long-term ceasefire – or the number of Palestinians held in Israeli jails to be freed as part of a deal.
Essentially, they said, the proposal requires weeks of negotiations to hammer out details that the two sides can agree on.
“It looks like another time-buying tactic by the Israelis while they press on with their ground assault on Gaza city and control the strip,” said one of the sources. “Israel and the US in reality want nothing short of total surrender by Hamas, coming out of the tunnels with their hands up in the air.”
The latest proposal comes after Hamas last month agreed to a deal presented by mediators Egypt and Qatar that provided for a 60-day pause in the war, which enters its third year next month. It also proposed the release of 10 hostages and the remains of 18 others who died in captivity, and the free and sufficient flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
The sources said Hamas was likely to reject the new proposal and insist that the Qatar-Egypt deal should be the basis for any negotiations to end the war.
Israel had not officially responded to the Qatari-Egyptian proposal, which mirrors a plan presented earlier this year by US President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.
Instead, Mr Netanyahu said he wanted a comprehensive deal that secures the release of all hostages at once, a proposal that would strip Hamas, already significantly weakened by the war, of its most important bargaining card.
The sources said Egypt, Qatar and Turkey have obtained intelligence on Israeli plans to attack Hamas's leaders in exile and inside Gaza as part of its war goal to wipe out the group, which had already stated its willingness to become a political party and stay out of any postwar administration or reconstruction effort in the war-battered enclave.
News of the Israeli proposal came two days after Mr Trump said the US had “very deep negotiations” with Hamas to free the remaining hostages held in Gaza, but added that some of the 20 captives believed to still be alive may have “recently died”.
“We’re in very deep negotiations with Hamas. We said, ‘Let ’em all out, right now, let ’em all out, and much better things will happen,'” Mr Trump said after being asked by a reporter about the status of Gaza ceasefire negotiations.
The war in Gaza was caused by a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. The attackers killed about 1,200 and took captive another 250. Israel responded with a relentless military campaign that has to date killed more than 64,300 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
The campaign also reduced most of Gaza to ruins and displaced the overwhelming majority of its estimated 2.3 million residents, more than once in many cases.
