PM’s office: Doha team examining potential deal to end war, release all hostages, disarm and exile Hamas

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says Israel’s hostage negotiation team in Doha is exhausting “every possibility” for a deal, including a potential agreement that would see the end of fighting, in an apparent shift in approach.

The PMO says that the team is working toward the possibility of either US special envoy Steve Witkoff’s proposal for a short-term ceasefire and limited hostage exchange, or an agreement to end the war through a comprehensive release of all hostages in Gaza and the complete surrender and exile of Hamas.

“Under the prime minister’s direction, even at this hour, the negotiating team in Doha is working to exhaust every possibility for a deal — whether according to the Witkoff outline or within the framework of ending the war, which would include the release of all hostages, the exile of Hamas terrorists, and the disarmament of the Gaza Strip,” writes the PMO in a statement.

“Thanks to [Netanyahu’s] policy of exerting military and diplomatic pressure, the government has so far succeeded in bringing home 197 hostages, and is doing everything possible to return the 58 remaining captives,” the PMO says.

Israel has consistently said that the war will not end without the destruction of Hamas as a military and governing power. Netanyahu has previously insisted on only agreeing to a temporary ceasefire of roughly 45 days, which would begin with Hamas releasing about 10 hostages.

Before addressing the negotiations in Qatar, the PMO statement begins by criticizing former Israeli hostage negotiator, Brig. Gen. (res.) Oren Setter, who resigned from the team in October and said in a February interview that Netanyahu had missed two opportunities last year for a hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas.

In a Hebrew interview with the Kan public broadcaster this morning, Setter said that he sees an opportunity, under the current combined military and diplomatic pressure, to reach a comprehensive deal for the return of all hostages, but is “concerned it’s going to be missed — that once again, we’ll end up with a partial agreement.”

Setter “undermined government policy through deliberate leaks and biased briefings from within the Cabinet that harmed the negotiations, endangered our hostages, and echoed Hamas’s false propaganda,” writes the PMO, echoing its initial response in February denying his statements.

“His claims that an agreement could have been reached earlier are completely baseless. As senior American officials have repeatedly testified, Hamas refused for many months to enter negotiations and was the sole obstacle to a deal,” the statement reads.