Arab diplomat: Hamas proposal based on discussions with US envoy Adam Boehler

The proposal announced this morning by Hamas to release American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander and four bodies of dual nationals is based on what its officials discussed with US hostage envoy Adam Boehler earlier this month, a senior Arab diplomat tells The Times of Israel.

While the Hamas statement didn’t specify the nationalities of the four bodies being released, the Arab diplomat says they are the four remaining American-Israeli hostages — Itay Chen, Omer Neutra, Gadi Haggai and Judy Weinstein.

In exchange for the five Americans, Hamas is demanding a number of Palestinian prisoners, a resumption of aid delivery to Gaza and an Israeli commitment to enter talks regarding phase two of the deal, the diplomat says, confirming reporting in The New York Times.

Once Israel agrees in principle to the deal, Hamas is willing to negotiate the identities of Palestinian prisoners to be released, the official says.

Hamas held off on agreeing to such a proposal when its top officials met with Boehler on March 4. The existence of the talks was leaked later that day by Israel, which was furious about not being fully informed, a US official told The Times of Israel earlier this week.

Both the US and Israel have appeared to reject Hamas’s offer today.

Boehler has said the decision to launch the direct talks was taken in order to break the logjam in negotiations. Israel had been refusing for a month to hold negotiations regarding the terms of phase two, after having agreed to do so when it signed the deal in January.

While the secret US talks with Hamas were fully coordinated with Witkoff, Boehler has been the target of Israeli ire, and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer has lobbied Trump aides to have the hostage envoy barred from dealing with the issue. A senior US official told The Times of Israel yesterday that Boehler would continue assisting Witkoff in his efforts.

But Witkoff and other US officials don’t appear to be publicly standing by Boehler. Witkoff has been mum on the matter and while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised Boehler’s work, the top diplomat said the direct talks with Hamas were a “one-off” and that negotiations moving forward would be held on the original channel led by Witkoff.

Witkoff revealed his own proposal for a ceasefire extension earlier today, which largely adopted previous Israeli positions, while also dismissing Hamas’s offer as disingenuous.

While Hamas appeared to come around to Boehler’s offer earlier today after its initial rejection, Witkoff’s response indicates that the reply may have come too late and that Washington is now taking a harder line.