Netanyahu instructs Israeli hostage team to prepare for more talks on Witkoff proposal
PM’s office says proposal would see 11 living hostages freed immediately, as well as half the slain captives; Doha talks earlier said to be near collapse
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed Israel’s hostage negotiating team on Saturday evening to prepare for further talks in Doha based on what it said was a proposal from US special envoy Steve Witkoff under which 11 living hostages would be freed immediately.
The directive was issued at the conclusion of a meeting convened by Netanyahu of top aides and security chiefs, who were briefed by the negotiating team on the state of the talks. The team returned from Doha on Friday.
According to the Prime Minister’s Office, the proposal put forward by Witkoff would see 11 living hostages, and half the slain captives, released “immediately.”
The “Witkoff proposal,” which the US envoy 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.
As Israel’s negotiating team prepared to meet with the prime minister on Saturday night, Channel 12 reported that the negotiations in Doha could be nearing collapse, with the sides unable to agree on the terms for continuing the ceasefire that came into effect in January.
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.
Jerusalem officials have warned the IDF could return to an intensive military campaign in Gaza if no deal is reached with Hamas soon.
The deal between Israel and Hamas took effect on January 19, with negotiations on the second stage slated to begin on the 16th day of the first stage. However, for almost a month, Israel refused to hold negotiations on the terms of phase two, which would require Israel to withdraw fully from Gaza and agree to permanently end the war.
Earlier Saturday, a Hamas spokesman said that “the ball is in Israel’s court” after the terror group’s offer. “We want to solidify the ceasefire agreement and force [Israel] to implement its terms,” Abdul Latif al-Qanou told AFP, accusing Israel of “delaying” its enforcement.
He pointed to the ongoing blockage of humanitarian aid entering Gaza since March 2. Israel stopped aid then, citing Hamas’s refusal to accept a proposal to extend phase one of the ceasefire.
Following the offer on Friday, Israel said the Palestinian terrorists had “not budged a millimeter” in response to what Witkoff has called his “bridge proposal,” while Israel had accepted it.
Witkoff also rejected the Hamas offer. Rather than accepting his own proposal, Witkoff said in a statement, “unfortunately, Hamas has chosen to respond by publicly claiming flexibility while privately making demands that are entirely impractical without a permanent ceasefire.”
“Through our Qatari and Egyptian partners,” he explained, “Hamas was told in no uncertain terms that this ‘bridge’ would have to be implemented soon — and that dual US-Israeli citizen Edan Alexander would have to be released immediately.”
With its response, “Hamas is making a very bad bet that time is on its side. It is not. Hamas is well aware of the deadline, and should know that we will respond accordingly if that deadline passes,” the top Trump aide warned without elaborating on what that deadline was.
A senior Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel that Hamas’s proposal on Friday morning was based on what the Palestinian terrorist organization discussed with US hostage envoy Adam Boehler on March 4. At the time, Hamas held off on agreeing to the proposal.
Israel was furious about being left in the dark on the direct US-Hamas talks, and leaked their existence later that day, a US official told The Times of Israel earlier this week. On Friday, Israel slammed Hamas’s delayed agreement to that proposal as a ploy to avoid committing to Witkoff’s newer proposal to extend the ceasefire’s first phase, which expired March 2, until April 19.
Later on Friday, Boehler withdrew his nomination to serve as special presidential envoy for hostage affairs. A senior US official told The Times of Israel that he would continue to manage the hostage file, which deals with efforts to release Americans wrongfully detained or held captive worldwide, but from a lower-level position that does not require Senate confirmation.
The rare statement issued by Witkoff on Friday indicated that Hamas’s response to Boehler may have come too late for Washington, which was now taking a harder line on Hamas.
Witkoff said his “bridge proposal” would extend the ceasefire deal’s first phase and see Hamas release living hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. He did not specify how many living hostages or Palestinian security prisoners.
Numerous reports have suggested that the Witkoff proposal requires Hamas to release five living hostages and the remains of 10 others, but this has not been confirmed. Israel has reportedly pushed for more living hostages. There are believed to be, at most, 24 living hostages in Gaza, as well as 35 confirmed by Israel to be dead.
The “phase one extension” would give Israel and Hamas more time to negotiate a permanent ceasefire, said Witkoff. “The US would work toward a durable solution to this intractable conflict during the extended ceasefire period,” he said.
The phase one extension offered by Witkoff would also see the resumption of humanitarian aid delivery into Gaza, which Israel halted at the original end date of the first phase about two weeks ago, with the subsequent backing of the Trump administration.
The first phase of the ceasefire saw Hamas release 33 women, children, civilian men, and those deemed “humanitarian cases” in exchange for some 1,900 Palestinian prisoners, including over 270 serving life terms in connection with the murders of dozens of Israelis.
The second phase would see Hamas release the 24 hostages still believed to be alive, including Alexander. All of them are young men abducted on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza.
Jacob Magid contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.