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Saturday, May 31, 2025
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Saturday, May 31, 2025
Israeli official: Jerusalem treating Hamas response to Witkoff proposal as ‘effective rejection’
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleJacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
An Israeli official tells Israeli reporters on condition of anonymity that Jerusalem is treating Hamas’s response to US special envoy Steve Witkoff’s hostage deal proposal as an “effective rejection.”
The Hamas response includes a series of edits to the Witkoff proposal, which was sent to Hamas earlier this week after Israel’s lead negotiator and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer signed off on it.
Despite the Hamas announcement that it has already submitted its response to Witkoff’s hostage deal proposal, mediators are still working with the group to soften some of the edits it has demanded, a source involved in the process tells The Times of Israel.
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