There is a strong proposal for a second hostage deal that would allow for a much longer pause to the Israel-Hamas war than occurred during the first agreement in November, US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Wednesday.
“Hamas now has a choice to make,” she told the UN Security Council in New York.
“It can continue to dig tunnels, to plan for its next attack, to use civilians and civilian infrastructure as human shields, or Hamas can lay down its weapons and accept the proposal on the table to release every hostage,” she said.
Thomas-Greenfield urged the UNSC to increase pressure on Hamas to “make the right decision.”
She spoke amid increased high-level diplomatic conversations about a deal to free 136 hostages held in Gaza, including a Wednesday meeting between US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer.
Sullivan on Tuesday spoke with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed Al Thani, who was visiting the US after attending an intelligence meeting in Paris with top officials from Israel, the US, and Egypt.
Cairo and Doha mediated a deal in November that had a weeklong pause in the war in exchange for the release of 105 of the 253 hostages seized by terrorists during the Hamas-led October 7 attack.
“The proposal on the table is strong, and it is compelling,” Thomas-Greenfield said. “It envisions a much longer humanitarian pause than we saw in November, and it would allow for us to get the hostages out and more life-saving food, water, and medicine into Gaza.”
“These are extremely sensitive negotiations, so I would not go into all the details here,” she said. “But we can all agree that this would change the situation on the ground. It would move the parties close to the cessation of hostilities that we all desire.”
A senior Hamas official told Reuters the Gaza ceasefire proposal involved a three-stage truce, during which Hamas would release the remaining civilians among hostages captured on October 7, then the soldiers, and finally the bodies of dead hostages. Israel is also expected to release jailed Palestinian security prisoners, as it did in the first deal. This time, however, the numbers are expected to be larger and involve terrorists with blood on their hands.
Israel has been cautious about the situation, in contrast to optimistic messages out of Washington and New York. The US has worked alongside Qatar and Egypt on a deal. Six of the remaining captives have dual Israeli-American citizenship.
Netanyahu meets Gaza hostage families, lauds 'real effort' made
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with 26 relatives of 18 of the hostages on Wednesday in Jerusalem. He was joined by Coordinator for the Hostages and the Missing Brig.-Gen. (res.) Gal Hirsch, National Security Council Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi, Netanyahu’s military secretary, Maj.-Gen. Avi Gil, and Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs.
“We are making every effort” to free the hostages, Netanyahu told the families, adding that “the more public this effort is, the more distant it is. The more discreet it is, the greater are its chances for success.”
“Naturally, and for these reasons, I am prevented from sharing with you,” he said, according to a statement released by his office.
“We are truly committed, in every sense of the word,” Netanyahu said. “This is not just lip service. This is a genuine effort. It is not fictitious; neither is it just for show. It stems from our commitment to return them all. The idea is everyone; the effort is for everyone... While it is too early to say how it will happen, the effort is being made at this time, at this very moment.”
Late Tuesday, Thani attempted to douse optimism about an imminent deal for the release of the 136 hostages, even as he expressed optimism that a deal was in the works in which the release of women and elderly male captives would take place in the first phase.
“I think we have reached an agreement with the Israelis in order to have it as a starting point, but it needs a lot of resolution and negotiating the details also with Hamas to get into an agreement,” he told Fox News while visiting Washington.
“We always want to be an optimist, but we shouldn’t also over-promise... The process is still at the beginning, so it will need some time to evolve,” Thani said.
It is believed that an initial step in a hostage deal would be the release of women, children, and the elderly among the hostages. Thani seemed to confirm the accuracy of this understanding when he said: “Right now, we are talking about women and the elderly.”
The diplomatic activity has sparked speculative rumors about the details, including reports that Israel would agree to a permanent ceasefire and to release a high number of Palestinian security prisoners and terrorists in Israeli jails.
Netanyahu has publicly insisted that he plans to continue the war until Hamas is destroyed, and that the IDF would retain security control of Gaza once the fighting is over. Any deal would have to include those understandings, he has said.
Some of his coalition partners have already threatened to leave the government over the deal, even though there has been no formal Israeli approval of any final agreement.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir (Otzma Yehudit) on Wednesday told the Knesset: “We will not allow a deal whose purpose would be the victory of Hamas and the perpetuation of terrorism.”
Those involved in the talks were leaking “trial balloons” about the deal to prepare the Israeli public for a deal with even harsher terms than the speculative details that have been published in the media, he said.
They were purposely creating a confusing picture of what was happening, so they could rush a deal through the approval process within hours, Ben-Gvir said.
Netanyahu asked to make hostage deal at cost of governemnt
“Anyone who thinks they can create a fog here, then within three hours to rush a cabinet meeting and confirm under pressure a done deal, is wrong,” he said.
The Prime Minister’s Office has repeatedly dismissed rumors about details of the deals, saying nothing has been finalized.
Relatives of the hostages asked Netanyahu to make a deal, even at the cost of preserving his government, Channel 12 reported. Netanyahu told them his only goals were to make a deal that was good for Israel, would secure the release of the hostages, and would allow the IDF to achieve its military objectives.
If he was convinced that the asking price for freeing the hostages would endanger the State of Israel and keep it from achieving its military goal, then he would reject the deal, Netanyahu said.