Israel – Times of Israel, April 02, 2025
Hamas is prepared to release all of the remaining hostages at once, in exchange for a permanent ceasefire, a senior Palestinian official familiar with the ongoing truce talks tells The Times of Israel.
Amid Israel’s longstanding rejection of this type of trade, Hamas is still prepared to release a number of hostages in exchange for an extension of the temporary ceasefire.
However, it wants guarantees from the mediators that Israel will agree to subsequently enter negotiations for a permanent ceasefire — something Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has, to date, refused to do, the senior Palestinian official says.
Hamas has insisted on sticking to the original terms of the January deal, which envisioned a transition to phase two on March 2. This phase is supposed to see the return of all remaining living hostages in exchange for the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and a permanent end to the war. While Netanyahu signed onto the deal, he has long rejected those latter two clauses of phase two, arguing that this would allow Hamas to remain in power. Accordingly, the Israeli premier has largely refused to hold talks regarding phase two of the deal, which were supposed to begin on February 2. Israel resumed intensive military operations throughout Gaza on March 18.
