Hamas makes a hostage hostage but requires changes to the US Plan to Stop Fire

Hamas responded to a proposal to end the US fire, saying it was ready to release 10 living hostages and 18 dead hostages in exchange for a number of Palestinian prisoners, while requesting some changes to the plan.

The group repeated their requests for a permanent truce, complete withdrawal of Israel from gas and guarantees for the continuous flow of humanitarian aid. None of them is in the table deal.

This was neither an explicit rejection nor a clear acceptance of US conditions that Washington says Israel has accepted.

Hamas said he had presented his response to the US project proposed by Steve Vikof, the special envoy of US President Donald Trump for the Middle East.

In a statement, Vitcof said: “I received Hamas’s response to the United States proposal. He is completely unacceptable and only takes us back. Hamas has to accept the proposal for a frame, which we present as the basis for conversations of closeness, which we can start immediately this next week.

“This is the only way to conclude a 60-day transaction to terminate the fire in the coming days.”

A statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “While Israel agreed to the updated contour of Witkoff to release our hostages, Hamas continues to adhere to his refusal.”

Hamas, a banned terrorist group in the US, UK and the EU, said it was demanding a “constant ceasefire” and “full withdrawal” of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip.

The group demanded a steady stream of assistance to Palestinians living in enclave and said it would release 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 dead hostages in exchange for a “contractual number” Palestinian prisoners in Israel.

But now Hamas finds himself in the most complex and difficult position she has faced since the beginning of the war.

Under intense pressure of 2.2 million people living in the highest conditions in their history, and by mediators, the movement is not able to accept an American proposal, which in all accounts is less generous than previous offers, which have rejected many times, the most in March.

At that time, a senior Hamas employee and head of the negotiating Khalil Al-Haya unequivocally stated that the movement would not agree with partial transactions that failed to secure a complete and constant end of the war.

Still, Hamas also finds himself unable to reject the US, fully aware that Israel is preparing to escalate its offensive in Gaza.

Movement lacks the military ability to prevent or even seriously oppose such an attack.

Catching between these two realities, Hamas actually responded to the US proposal not with an answer – but with a completely new counter -mid -seater.

The full details of the US plan have not been publicly disclosed and are unconfirmed, but according to messages, these key points are included:

• 60-day pause in battles

• The release of 28 Israeli hostages – alive and dead – in the first week and the exit of another 30 once constant ceased fire is in place

• The release of 1236 Palestinian prisoners and the remains of 180 dead Palestinians

• Sending humanitarian aid to Gaza through UN and other agencies

The conditions offered were those that Israel could accept – the White House made sure that it was approved by Israel before submitting Hamas’s proposal.

It is unlikely that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is ready to negotiate the changes that Hamas wants.

He is under pressure to bring the hostages home and said he was ready to accept a temporary cessation of fire to do so.

But the Israeli government has always insisted on the right to return to hostilities, despite Hamas’s basic request for guarantee that the temporary truce is the way to end the war.

Netanyahu said the war would end when Hamas “puts his hands, is no longer in the government (s) his leaders are imprisoned by the Gaza Strip.”

The Minister of Defense Israel Katz was smaller this week. “Hamas killers will already be forced to choose: accept the conditions of” Witkoff Deal “to release the hostages – or to destroy themselves,” he said.

Earlier on Saturday, Hamas Gaza Health Ministry said 60 people had been killed and another 284 injured in the last 24 hours in Israeli strikes.

This does not include numbers from hospitals located in the north of the Gaza Strip because of the difficulty of accessing the area, he adds.

Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas’s cross -border attack on October 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and 251 others were hostage.

At least 54 381 people have been killed in Gaza since then, including 4,117 since Israel resumed its offensive on March 18, according to Hamas Health Ministry.