From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, May 13, 2025
Report: With Qatar help, US agreed to push Israel for 3-month truce-hostage deal to secure captive’s release
Nava Freiberg is The Times of Israel's deputy diplomatic correspondent.
The United States, in coordination with Qatar, agreed to push Israel to accept a months-long ceasefire and hostage exchange deal in return for the release of American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander, Axios reports.
During Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman al-Thani’s visit to the White House last month, the Gulf state leader met with US President Donald Trump and US special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, and suggested that they support a Hamas-approved proposal for a deal to release all hostages and end the war, but Washington said a temporary, phased deal was the only viable option, according to the outlet.
Upon returning to Doha, al-Thani encouraged Hamas to make a gesture to Trump in order to change the president’s position, shortly after which Hamas reached out to Bishara Bahbah, a Palestinian-American businessman and Trump supporter, to mediate talks with the US on the proposal, officials said in the report. The existence of this backchannel was first reported by The Times of Israel.
The White House subsequently told the terror group that if Alexander were released, the US would pressure Israel to implement a 70- to 90-day ceasefire in exchange for the release of 10 hostages, during which negotiations for a final deal would be held, according to a Palestinian official quoted in the report.
The US, Qatar and Egypt would ensure that the war wouldn’t resume throughout the talks, the official adds, though the US did not confirm this to Axios.
Al-Thani played a critical role in persuading Hamas to agree to a deal, while Netanyahu was highly involved and the IDF’s campaign in Gaza was “instrumental,” a senior US official says.
For his part, Trump did not pressure Netanyahu during their phone call yesterday to roll back his plans for an expanded ground campaign in Gaza set to begin after Trump’s Middle East visit, Israeli officials tell Axios.
Axios echoes other reports that Witkoff and US hostage envoy Adam Boehler will be traveling to Doha with Israeli negotiators today, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to a request from the Trump administration to send a negotiating team to jumpstart the stalled hostage-ceasefire talks with Hamas.
Netanyahu has stressed that negotiations would be conducted with Gaza “under fire” and that the military’s planned offensive to achieve control of the entire Strip will still go ahead if Hamas does not release more captives first.
The Times of Israel Community.