Israel proposes Gaza ceasefire deal to release 10 hostages for hundreds of Palestinians, Hamas says
hubnews1-Israel offers Gaza ceasefire agreement to free 10 hostages for Palestinians, hundreds, says Hamas
Hamas is “examining” an Israeli offer for a Gaza ceasefire where 10 hostages would be freed in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, a Hamas official said to CNN.
The proposal, received by Hamas on Monday, offers a preliminary framework for a 45-day ceasefire in the Palestinian territory within which the two sides would try to agree a lasting ceasefire, the official said.
The Israeli plan also insists on the disarming of Gaza, which in the past was a red line for Hamas. It does not involve a promise of permanent cessation of the conflict, which Hamas has insisted on in a final deal.
The Hamas leader stated that the group will not accept any Israeli ceasefire offer that demands its disarmament or has Israeli troops redeploy to Gaza after a temporary withdrawal, and it is therefore unlikely that the group will accept it.
The proposal is Israel’s first to negotiate for the release of hostages from Gaza since it re-started the war last March. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is coming under mounting pressure from hostage families and increasing numbers of military reservists to secure a deal.
CNN has contacted Israeli officials for comment.
According to the proposal, Israeli American Edan Alexander would be freed on the first day of the truce as a “special gesture” to the United States, Hamas officials said.
READ MORE:mohsen mahdawi:Columbia Activist Arrested by ICE at His Appointment for Citizenship
Hamas released a propaganda video over the weekend in which Alexander appealed directly to Trump, asking why he hasn’t been released yet. The three-minute video, almost certainly filmed under duress, is the second proof-of-life video of Alexander since the war began 18 months ago.
But Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades claimed on Tuesday that they have lost contact with militants who are detaining Alexander, after they asserted the Israeli army bombed the building where Alexander is being detained.
CNN could not independently confirm the assertion.
The militant group did not specify when and where the strike occurred. The Israeli military and the Hostages and Missing Families Forum did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
The Al-Qassam Brigades have previously lied about the status of at least one hostage. In November, the group said it had killed an Israeli woman it had taken hostage in an Israeli bombing and published a picture of her body covered in a red-stained white sheet. A tattoo marked the women as Daniella Gilboa, an Israeli soldier. Hamas released Gilboa alive in January.
Hamas official speaking on the Israeli proposal said a total of nine additional Israeli hostages would be released in two stages in return for 120 Palestinian prisoners serving life terms and over 1,100 detainees who have been held without charges since October 7, 2023, the official added.
Israel’s offer also insists that Hamas reveal details regarding the remaining living Israeli hostages being detained by the group, “in return for details about the Palestinian detainees,” and the return of the bodies of 16 dead Israeli hostages in return for the bodies of 160 dead Palestinians being detained by Israel.
The “45-day temporary ceasefire” would also cover a halt to the military action and the movement of aid into Gaza as well as “an agreed mechanism to prevent aid from reaching anyone but civilians,” said the Hamas official.
The entry of equipment used for sheltering Palestinians displaced within Gaza would be covered under the proposal as well.
A Hamas delegation sat down with Egyptian and Qatari mediators in Cairo at the weekend. Israel has not officially confirmed whether it had a team at the talks.
Israel has severed Gaza from the flow of humanitarian aid such as food since early March, with aid agencies reporting that conditions for the strip’s 2 million civilians have become perilously bad, only further exacerbated by intense Israeli military campaigns
Israel’s action to cut off aid preceded its fresh military assault on the enclave, which it said was an attempt to push Hamas to free more hostages and add new terms to a ceasefire that was then in place. Over 1,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since mid-March, the enclave’s Ministry of Health reported.
Under the proposed new ceasefire, Israel would pull back seven days from some areas of Gaza such as Rafah, a southern city, and Rafah’s north and Gaza City’s east, as reported by the war-weary Hamas official.
Israel’s proposal also “demands the disarming of the Gaza Strip” and talks on a “declaration of permanent ceasefire,” to start on the third day of the ceasefire, the official informed CNN.
“Negotiations for a permanent ceasefire should be finalized within 45 days,” after which the rest of the Israeli hostages being held by Hamas, both alive and dead, will be released to Israel, the official explained.
If there is a deal on the temporary ceasefire, it can be renewed on conditions and for a period to be agreed by the two sides… if the time lapses without an agreement, it will be renewed in return for new prisoners.”
Some of the details specified by the Hamas official seemed to correspond with parts of the proposal previously confirmed to CNN by a senior Israeli official.
‘Steps are underway’ to seal a deal
The Israeli official had earlier informed CNN that the new Israeli proposal would require the release of 10 hostages from Gaza, and the release of Alexander as a goodwill gesture to President Donald Trump. The proposal, according to the Israeli official, would have phases where Hamas would offer information on all the other remaining hostages.
On Sunday, Netanyahu’s office stated that “steps are underway” to negotiate a new hostage-ceasefire agreement in Gaza, as he spoke with the family of hostage Eitan Mor.
One of the hostage’s families’ representation groups, the Tikva Forum, acknowledged the chat and stated that Netanyahu had informed the Mor family “about the progress of negotiations for the release of 10 abductees in good health.
Netanyahu, after visiting Israeli forces in north Gaza on Tuesday, stated Israel was “convinced to gain all of our war objectives.”
“We are firm that they set free our captives,” he stated from within Gaza.
Negotiations, according to media reports, including those of the Israeli news channels, were intended for releasing 10 of its hostages; the prime minister’s office had made no statements validating the report.
CNN is seeking to verify other details of the plan that were described by the Hamas official.
Sunday also saw Mahmoud Mardawi, a senior Hamas official, say on Telegram that while there was a good attitude from Hamas to any initiative “based on stopping the aggression and the retreat of occupation forces… we won’t accept an inclination toward a fragmented process with a focus limited to a food-for-prisoners (hostages) arrangement.”
Last week, CNN revealed that mediators had been upset by Netanyahu’s choice to usher aside experienced national security experts who were heading the Israeli delegation to the negotiations and replace them with his most senior adviser, Ron Dermer. They assert the change has halted the negotiations in bringing back to life the defunct ceasefire.
Israel’s political leaders steering ceasefire talks frustrate mediators
Israel’s political leaders guiding ceasefire negotiations anger mediators When the talks to release Israeli hostages had started soon after Hamas’ October 7 attack, the negotiators who were assigned to reach a deal were predominantly intelligence and security experts. But then in February Israel made a significant shift that participants now involved indicate has had a deep braking effect on the talks to revive the shattered ceasefire: The case was seized upon by the prime minister’s senior political advisor, Ron Dermer.
With Dermer, according to an inside participant, there’s a “huge difference in momentum,” from when Israel’s delegation was headed by intelligence directors David Barnea and Ronen Bar.
“There is a definite change in [Israeli] priorities,” the source explained. “Negotiations are apparently being politicized by the Israeli team.”
And now, Barnea, who heads the Mossad, has been pushed aside and Bar, who headed the internal security agency Shin Bet, has been dismissed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, sparking outrage in Israel.
The move to sideline career national security experts for Netanyahu’s most trusted aide was meant to leave Netanyahu with greater control over the negotiations process, said an Israeli source close to the negotiations.
“These political considerations by the Israeli delegation headed by Dermer are not helping,” declares an American who campaigns for the hostages’ families. “The families know that Dermer is a major hurdle to their loved ones being released.”
An Israeli spokesperson rejected accusations that Dermer’s leadership role has hurt the progress of or politicized the negotiations, responding, “Negotiations need to be judged by results, not process.”
“To get a deal, you need someone who actually represents the will of the government that will approve said deal, not ‘dissent,’ which only sought to undermine negotiations,” the spokesperson replied.
The precarious truce between Israel and Hamas that began when President Donald Trump assumed office ended last month as Israel resumed its military campaign and US and Israeli officials blamed Hamas for spurning an offer to prolong it, which Hamas disputed.
There had been long signals Israel intended to resume its war against Hamas following the initial stage of the ceasefire agreement, when 38 Israeli and Thai hostages were freed within six weeks.
Netanyahu consistently refers to the release of the hostages as a top goal. But so does the annihilation of Hamas, and his critics have charged that he has prioritized the latter over the former, specifically because that is also where the prime minister’s political interests are.
Burning Hamas has always been the agenda of senior right-wing members of Netanyahu’s coalition government, who have consistently threatened and carried out threats to resign from the government.
With Dermer at the helm of the talks, Netanyahu can more skillfully navigate the high-wire political balancing act that has dictated Israeli decision-making at every turning point of the ceasefire talks.
Throughout the several months of ceasefire talks last year that finally resulted in a deal to end the fighting in January, Israeli security professionals cringed at Netanyahu’s changing positions and time-wasting tactics that they felt were driven by political imperatives and kept a deal from being brokered. But with Dermer now at the helm and intelligence leaders demoted, those dissenting opinions have played less of a role in Israeli security meetings and in Israeli news accounts.
During his visit to the US earlier this week to meet Trump, Netanyahu denied reports that releasing the hostages is not a priority.
The president gazed at me and said to the reporters present: ‘This man is working day and night to release the hostages.’ I hope that it dispels the falsehood that’s being spread to the effect that I am not working for them, that I don’t care. I do care, and I am doing it and we will succeed,” Netanyahu stated.
Israel’s Hostages and Missing Families Forum recently made a direct call on Dermer, whose portfolio is the Minister of Strategic Affairs, accusing him of leaving them “in complete darkness.
When you were named leader of the negotiating team, we were assured that this would facilitate a breakthrough towards a new agreement,” the letter stated. “In practice, over a month has elapsed and there is no prospect of progress.
Barnea and Bar had traveled to Egypt and Qatar, and other nations, back and forth for cease-fire negotiations involving the heads of the CIA, Egyptian intelligence and the Qatar prime minister.
Dermer now speaks less to Egypt and Qatar mediators, which have direct ties with Hamas, the source participating in the negotiations said.
The US point man has also changed from the previous CIA director to Trump administration Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, who has blamed Hamas for stubbornness that led to the breakdown of the recent ceasefire.
“If you’re the Trump team, you blame Hamas but behind the scenes I believe they are trying to push both sides,” the American who represents the hostage families said.
A spokesperson for Witkoff stated, “Ambassador Witkoff and the Trump administration are on the same page as Israel in their quest to liberate the hostages, including American Edan Alexander, and bring about peace – which equates to Hamas out of power in Gaza. To get there, tough negotiations are required.
Continuing negotiations to free hostages
Witkoff and American hostage negotiator Adam Boehler have attempted to calculate equations to get Hamas to free the remaining Americans – one alive and four dead – and secure the truce for enough time to attempt to broker the next stage.
“America is doing all it can to free living and dead American hostages, which makes the deal necessary,” an Egyptian official told TOI. Israel “doesn’t view hostages as taking priority over shattering Hamas.”
Most recently, Hamas accepted an Egypt- and Qatar-sponsored initiative that mirrored one Witkoff offered last month to free the sole surviving American captive, Edan Alexander, and four others and prolong the peace during Ramadan and Passover.
Israel moved rapidly to counter, calling for 11 living hostages, nearly half of the 24 still alive. That would more significantly slice into what Hamas considers their strongest leverage against Israel.
“We’re still working on the Witkoff plan for an extension,” a diplomat who is privy to the negotiations said. “I think we have some wiggle room that we can work on.”
Israel had initially postponed opening negotiations for the second stage whose conditions for its terms included release of all the remaining hostages, a lasting ceasefire and Israel’s military withdrawal from Gaza.
That might have spelled the survival of Hamas – albeit not in office – and was contrary to Netanyahu’s aim of “total victory.” It would also have endangered Netanyahu’s government.
There is no indication of what the [Israeli] endgame is,” the first one of those negotiating said, and added: “Americans are frustrated.”
Since Israel’s most recent operations pushed Gaza’s death toll past 50,000, there has been encouraging action towards reviving the truce, negotiators report.
Pressure has been applied, both by the Israeli military and mass Palestinian demonstrations in Gaza, said an American official knowledgeable of the talks.
Hamas is gasping for oxygen,” said the official who faulted Hamas for letting American chances last month slip away to continue the ceasefire. “They’re not very nimble.”
The American who has been working with the families of the hostages has sensed “a little bit of air getting put into the process.
“There is a sense of urgency and pressure on the part of the Americans and the [Egyptian and Qatari] mediators,” said the source party to the negotiations.
In an effort to save the ceasefire, hostage envoy Boehler took the unprecedented step of meeting directly with Hamas officials, whom the US regards as a terrorist group.
That meeting angered Israeli officials, and reportedly Dermer in particular. Boehler confirmed he spoke with Dermer after and defended the meeting, telling CNN: “we’re not an agent of Israel.”
With much of Hamas’ leadership inside Gaza decimated, it’s not clear if the military leaders still fighting Israel are on the same page as the political leadership engaging with mediators, including Boehler, the source involved in the negotiations said.
“Hamas obstinacy is also not helpful. They must be held accountable for the desperate humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” the source added.
The talks meanwhile continue with the Israeli delegation headed by Dermer, but still comprising security experts who are working on the technical aspects.
“The Israeli side is working very hard, but the manner in which it’s being handled tactically from the top,” the source told Haaretz, “the composition of the negotiation team is not as useful as required for making headway.
Israeli ministers accuse embattled security agency chief of waging political vendetta against government
Israeli ministers accuse troubled security agency chief of conducting political vendetta against government
Israeli ministers have stepped up their criticism of the troubled head of Israel’s security agency, accusing him of undermining the government with a politically driven probe into one of his Shin Bet agents.
The unidentified agent was taken into custody last Wednesday on suspicion of perpetrating security-related crimes. The police claim he utilized his office and access to Shin Bet computers to leak sensitive information to unauthorized individuals “on several occasions.” The Shin Bet, also known as the Israel Security Agency, is the Israeli equivalent of America’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
The arrest of the agent further embitters an already bitter feud between government officials and the head of Shin Bet, Ronen Bar, who has threatened to resign within the next few weeks. Ministers have accused him of launching a series of politically charged investigations aimed at discrediting the government. The animosity reached new heights after the QatarGate scandal, in which two close members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s circle have been caught up.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Shin Bet admitted the leak and the investigation that followed the agent’s actions. It stated that during the war in Gaza, there has been an increase in leaks of sensitive information by security agency employees. Over 20 leaks-related investigations have been conducted, it added.
READ MORE:Iran, US hold ‘positive’ talks in Oman, agree to resume next week
Last month Netanyahu claimed he no longer had faith in Bar, but the opposition has backed up the Shin Bet chief.
Defense lawyers for the suspect argue the information that the accused Shin Bet agent provided to a minister and two journalists was “of vital public interest” but was never a danger to public security.
Minister Amichai Chikli, to whom the information was given by the accused Shin Bet agent, hailed him as a hero for distributing it.
Chikli said the report indicated that Bar “was obsessively tailing a sitting minister” and that the agent had “disclosed that the portions of the Shin Bet’s investigation into the circumstances of the (Gaza) war’s eruption that have been revealed present a false and distorted picture.”
“Israel never had a Shin Bet head as reckless, arrogant, and incompetent as (Bar),” he stated.
The agent’s attorneys stated that what he’d revealed offered a more nuanced explanation of Shin Bet’s activities prior to October 7 than had been previously reported. Hamas-linked militants struck Israel on that day in 2023, killing over 1,200 individuals and launching the current war in Gaza.
‘A real regime coup’
In reacting to the arrest, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich stated: “This is what a real regime coup looks like.” He had characterized Bar as a “dangerous individual” who employs the agency’s intelligence and investigative powers “as instruments to retaliate against politicians and journalists.
The government voted to fire Bar last month. But Israel’s Supreme Court suspended the decision after the Attorney General stated the dismissal could not be carried out without the permission of a special committee.
Netanyahu’s Likud party framed the indicted agent as a whistleblower who had revealed how Bar had “turned segments of the Shin Bet into a personal militia of the deep state.” The party accused Bar of collaborating with Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, another right-wing target.
Israel’s opposition leader Yair Lapid came to the defense of Bar, stating that the attacks made on him were “a bloody slaughter for him and the Shin Bet agents whose combatants defend the security of the state.”
“The government of Israel is a criminal government that assaults investigators who investigate crimes against state security,” Lapid wrote on social media.
The attempt to fire Bar has been connected by critics to the QatarGate scandal, which has court papers indicating that the two Netanyahu officials detained by Shin Bet are accused of being paid by Qatar and trying to present the country in a good light in the media.
“Netanyahu gets in trouble with Qatar and he attempts to fire the investigator,” declared Yair Golan, head of Israel’s left-wing Democrats party. “He will do anything to save himself. Himself and his mouthpieces. Netanyahu is dangerous to Israel.”
Israeli reservists fired after calling for hostage release even if it requires immediate truce
Israeli reservists dismissed for demanding hostage release even if it means immediate truce
The Israeli army has dismissed Air Force reservists who made public demands for an immediate return of the last remaining hostages in Gaza even if it means an immediate ceasefire, a statement by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reports.
Hundreds of Air Force reservists and retirees wrote a letter appearing in Israel’s leading newspapers saying the IDF is waging a political war without a military objective.
“Nowadays, the war is primarily political and personal goals and not security goals,” the group stated. “The ongoing war does not advance any of its declared objectives and will result in the killing of abductees, IDF soldiers and non-combatants, and in the depletion of reservists.” The letter states that the signers include pilots and air crew. The letter did not demand a refusal to serve.
The public letter is yet another indication of increasing discontent in Israel over the extended continuation of the war after 18 months and failure to bring back the remaining 59 hostages still being held in Gaza. Almost 70% of Israelis favor putting an end to the war in exchange as part of a hostage release deal for the remaining hostages, shows a recent Israel Channel 12 poll.
Israeli reservists have been growing more outspoken since Israel last month shattered the ceasefire with Hamas and resumed war, bearing the personal and financial burden of multiple reserve tours and doubting the Israeli government’s seriousness about negotiating the return of the hostages. The seething anger is a potential problem for a military that depends heavily on reservists in wartime.
IDF Chief of Staff and Air Force commander resolved to dismiss the signers of the letter, both active and reserve. It is unknown how many of the hundreds of signers were active or reserve, but the IDF reported it was processing the list and examining how many more are still in the military.
“It is not possible for a person who serves a shift in (an Air Force) pit to subsequently come out and show lack of faith in the mission. This is an impossible contradiction,” the IDF stated. According to an IDF spokesperson, most of the signers are not active reservists.
Reservist navigator Alon Gur, whose name is listed on the letter, was permanently discharged last month, the IDF said, after he posted on social media that Israel had become a place where “the state once again leaves its citizens in broad daylight” and “where the king is more important than the kingdom,” as reported by widespread coverage in Israeli media. Gur, who made the statement the same day Israel resumed military operations in Gaza, reported that he had told his squadron commander he was resigning from the military.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz criticized the letter and praised the move to dismiss the signatories.
Netanyahu framed the letter as written by “an extreme fringe group that is again attempting to destroy Israeli society from within.”
“Refusal is refusal—whether it is expressed openly or hidden in euphemistic words,” he stated in a statement.
Ultra-nationalist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who threatened to resign from Netanyahu’s government if the war is ended, congratulated the IDF Chief of Staff and the Air Force commander on evicting the “refuseniks” – a nickname for those refusing to serve in the army.
This rapid move is necessary in order to make it clear that we will not once more tolerate refusals and demands for rebellion against the IDF,” he posted on social media.
The decision to crack down on public protest seemed to be an effort to quash growing vocal frustration among reservists and avoid a repeat of 2023, when waves of reservists vowed to refuse to serve in protest of Netanyahu’s efforts to overhaul the judiciary
Almost all of the reservists ended up responding to call-ups they were given once Israel was attacked on October 7, but wartime solidarity has already started to collapse as the war has extended on.
FAQ:
1. What is the proposed ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas?
Israel has offered a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of 10 Israeli hostages held by Hamas. In return, hundreds of Palestinian prisoners would be freed from Israeli detention.
2. Who announced this deal?
The terms were reported by Hamas officials, though Israel has not yet publicly confirmed all details.
3. How many Palestinian prisoners would be released?
Exact numbers are unclear, but reports suggest “hundreds” of Palestinians could be freed in exchange for the 10 hostages.
4. Is this part of a larger negotiation?
Yes. This appears to be a phased deal, possibly similar to past agreements where hostage releases were exchanged for prisoners and temporary ceasefires.
5. Has Hamas accepted the deal?
As of now, Hamas has not officially accepted the proposal. Previous negotiations have involved back-and-forth adjustments to terms.
6. Why is this being discussed now?
Pressure is mounting for a resolution due to:
- The ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza
- International calls for hostage releases
- Efforts to prevent further escalation
7. What role does Deep Offshore Technology play in this?
The headline references “Deep Offshore Technology,” but this may be unrelated to the ceasefire. It could be a contextual reference (e.g., geopolitical strategies, intelligence operations) or a misplaced detail.
8. Where can I find updates on this situation?
Follow verified news sources such as Reuters, AP, or official statements from Israeli and Hamas authorities.
hamas hostages,israel hamas war,israel,ceasefire,hostages,hamas,israel hamas,israeli hostages,hamas ceasefire proposal,israel hamas ceasefire,hostage release,hamas ceasefire,hamas accuses israel of ceasefire violations,israel hamas ceasefire deal,gaza ceasefire,gaza ceasefire deal,israel hamas hostage release,israel hamas hostage deal,israel gaza ceasefire,delays release of hostages,hamas ceasefire deal explained,israeli hostages released,
Copyright hubnews1 Recorder, 2025
