Did a Washington Mediator Hint to Hamas It Could Release American Hostages While Leaving Others in Gaza Dungeons?

The Trump administration is rejecting Friday’s proposal from Hamas to release one living and four dead Israeli-American hostages — an offer that has raised the ire of Israelis, who suspect that the terror group’s latest “psychological warfare” resulted from direct talks that a Washington official, Adam Boehler, had held with Hamas leaders. Hamas announced Friday it was ready to release the last five American hostages it is holding in Gaza, including Edan Alexander, a soldier who was kidnapped on October 7, 2023, while attending the Nova music festival. Israelis fear that the offer was designed to create a rift between Washington and Jerusalem.President Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, rejected the proposal, warning Hamas: “Time is not on your side.” Earlier this week Mr. Boehler, the special envoy for hostage affairs, was barred from further direct talks with Hamas. Had he, though, already made his interlocutors understand that offering an exclusive release of Americans would appease Mr. Trump? “That’s what it looks like,” an Israeli source familiar with the negotiations tells the Sun. He noted that in several televised interviews last Sunday, Mr. Boehler indicated that he is working on behalf of hostages with American citizenship, rather than all 59 kidnapped Israelis in Gaza. Israel assesses that at least 24 of the remaining hostages are still alive. “We’re the United States,” Mr. Boehler told CNN last Sunday. “We’re not an agent of Israel,” and “we have specific interests at play.” Did he make that very point while talking at Doha with one of the Hamas leaders there, Khalil al-Hayya? Either way, the terror group could have surmised from Mr. Boehler’s media blitz last Sunday that Mr. Trump is only interested in American hostages, the Israeli source said. On Friday Hamas announced its intention to release Mr. Alexander and transfer to Israel the bodies of Omer Neutra, Itay Chen, Gadi Haggai, and Judy Weinstein-Haggai. That offer contradicts Mr. Witkoff’s Wednesday proposal, which reportedly included the release of at least five living hostages. Mr. Witkoff “presented a ‘bridge’ proposal to extend the ceasefire beyond Ramadan and Passover, and allow time to negotiate a framework for a permanent ceasefire,” his office said in a statement Friday. The proposal, according to the statement, included the release of living hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, an extension of the current Gaza cease-fire, and the resumption of humanitarian assistance that Israel suspended this week. “Unfortunately, Hamas has chosen to respond by publicly claiming flexibility while privately making demands that are entirely impractical without a permanent ceasefire,” Mr. Witkoff said in his joint statement with the White House. “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.”Following the Hamas offer to release only hostages with American citizenship, an Israeli delegation that spent the week at Doha in negotiations flew home on Friday. The Hamas proposal seems to have stalled the negotiations. “While Israel accepted the Witkoff framework, Hamas persists in its refusal and continues to wage psychological warfare against hostage families,” Prime Minister Netanayhu’s office said in a statement Friday. The premier “will convene the ministerial team tomorrow evening for a detailed briefing from the negotiating team, and to decide on steps to free the hostages and achieve all our war objectives,” his office said. Family members are increasingly demanding the release of all remaining hostages, in contrast to the ongoing negotiations over phased releases. Hamas has reportedly claimed it was ready to release all hostages in return for Israeli and American commitments to end the war and rehabilitate Gaza. Mr. Netanyahu’s government opposes such a deal, arguing it would leave Hamas in power, lay the ground for future October 7-like massacres, and ensure future hostage-taking. Many family members and their supporters are urging the government to accept Hamas’s offer, end the war, and secure the return of all hostages. Others, though, say that Hamas cannot be trusted, and the only way to gain the release of the hostages is to increase military pressure and end all humanitarian deliveries to Gaza, which the terrorists use to tighten their grip on the Strip. “We shouldn’t accept” Hamas’s latest offer to release the American hostages, the brother of a Gaza hostage, Nadav Miran, told Kan news Friday. “We need to pose an ultimatum: Until a certain date they must release all hostages and lay down their arms — and if they refuse, we re-enter Gaza and go after Hamas with all of Israel’s might.”

Did a Washington Mediator Hint to Hamas It Could Release American Hostages While Leaving Others in Gaza Dungeons?

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