Israel doesn’t expect Hamas to accept ‘Witkoff proposal,” says official

Despite a series of statements reiterating Israel’s support for the “Witkoff proposal,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s aides do not believe Hamas will ever accept the outline, an Israeli official tells The Times of Israel.

“It’s not going to happen,” says the official. “Everyone is well aware of this.”

The “Witkoff proposal,” which US special envoy Steve Witkoff presented in Doha on Wednesday and detailed in part on Friday, has been said by Israel to call for half the living hostages to be released at the start of an extended ceasefire that would last until the end of the Passover holiday in mid-April, with the possibility of the rest of the hostages being released at the end of the period.

The official says Israel’s insistence that Hamas accept the proposal is a negotiating tactic. “The goal is to get more than just American hostages out because that’s not acceptable in Israel.”

Hamas on Friday offered to release the last living Israeli-US hostage, Edan Alexander, and return the bodies of four others with dual Israeli-US citizenship — Itay Chen, Omer Neutra, Gadi Haggai and Judy Weinstein — in return for extending the truce and the release of more Palestinian security prisoners. Both Israel and the US rejected the Hamas offer, with Witkoff indicating it was disingenuous.

If Hamas does not agree to release hostages who don’t have US citizenship, Israel will end the ceasefire, says the official. “There are war plans crafted. There won’t be an endless amount of time — several weeks at the very most.”

Israel is prepared to send a team back to Doha for talks, says the official, once given a “green light” by Washington.