Report: Israel submitted updated hostage deal proposal to Hamas

Israel has given an updated proposal for a hostage deal to Hamas, Axios reports, citing two Israeli officials.

According to the report, it is similar to the phased plan under discussion in August, but now is focused primarily on getting the first phase done. Hamas has also shown a new openness to a partial deal, say the officials.

In its updated proposal, Israel is now willing to entertain the option of a ceasefire that would last up to 60 days, whereas previously the first stage was only 42 days. During the ceasefire, says Axios, all living female hostages, all living men over 50, and those with serious medical conditions would be released. Israel had been demanding 33 living hostages from these groups, but believes there are not that many alive anymore.

Israel is still willing to release hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners, including some serving life sentences for deadly terror attacks.

According to the report, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several senior ministers and security chiefs approved the proposal on Sunday, then passed it to the Egyptians, who presented it to Hamas in Cairo on Monday and Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Massad Boulos — selected as Donald Trump’s Middle East adviser — tells the French Le Point outlet that “both sides have agreed on the broad outlines of an agreement.”

“The war is practically over,” he says. “There is practically no more significant military activity. The only issue that remains is the hostages, and the parties have already agreed on several occasions on an exchange between hostages and Palestinian prisoners.”

“The main lines of the agreement have already been established and there are only very small details to be settled on a few names,” Boulos says, “the number of people released [on the Palestinian side] and the period over which the exchanges should take place.”