Hamas leaders rejected Israeli offer of safe passage if they freed hostages — report
Senior Israeli official urges Jerusalem to be more flexible with demands for deal, warns against ‘pulling the wool’ over the eyes of hostage families
Hamas has refused an Israeli proposal that offered the terror group’s leaders safe passage out of the Gaza Strip if they disarmed and freed the hostages they are holding, according to a US media report Friday.
Citing Arab mediators, The Wall Street Journal reported that the head of Israel’s spy agency Mossad, David Barnea, conveyed the offer during meetings in Egypt over the past week.
Hamas “swiftly” rebuffed the proposal with Khalil al-Hayya, Hamas’s deputy leader for Gaza, saying the offer showed Israel misunderstood the terror group and risked extending the war for months or years, according to the report.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s senior political adviser Ophir Falk told the newspaper that the premier “has reiterated that we are willing to give them safe passage if they lay down their arms and release the hostages,” while those who harm the captives will be pursued.
Hamas refused to comment on the report.
Barnea is set to travel on Sunday to Qatar, which is mediating ceasefire-hostage talks and hosts a number of top Hamas leaders, to restart discussions on a deal, Netanyahu’s office said in a statement Thursday evening.
A senior Israeli official with knowledge of the hostage negotiations told Channel 12 news on Friday night there will be no progress if Israel does not show some flexibility in its demands.
“They’re pulling the wool over the eyes of the public and hostages’ families,” the anonymous source said, referring to hopes that a deal could be more likely with Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar dead.
Israel and the US have hoped that Sinwar’s death could be an opportunity to restart negotiations, as the terror chief had been described by officials from both countries as the main obstacle to progress in talks.
“He blocks everything or doesn’t respond,” an Israeli official told The Times of Israel before Sinwar was killed on October 16.
In addition to having the final say on Hamas’s position during the hostage talks and having been the architect of the October 7 terror onslaught, in which 251 hostages were abducted, Sinwar also appeared to have been heavily involved in their captivity inside of the Strip.
Israel and Hamas have clashed in negotiating rooms over whether a ceasefire will constitute an end to the war; over the numbers and identities of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners to be freed; whether Israel will maintain control over the Gaza-Egypt border; and whether Israel will allow a return of residents to north Gaza; and more.
It is believed that 97 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.
Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 37 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military as they tried to escape their captors.
Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.
