US and Israeli officials float idea of ‘all or nothing’ Gaza deal

Steve Witkoff, a special ambassador of the Trump administration visiting the region, met with the families of Israeli hostages on Saturday, and President Donald Trump said he wanted to publish all living hostages at once.

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“This doesn’t work, it doesn’t work,” he said. Ynet Hebrew news site.

“Now we think we should shift this negotiation as ‘or no’ – everyone is coming home”. “We have a plan around,” he added.

Israel and Hamas do not negotiate directly. Instead, negotiations for the ceasefire between the two sides passed the intermediaries: the United States, Qatar and Egypt.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump are said to be working on a new offer that will involve Hamas with an ultimatom, according to reports in the Israeli news media confirmed by a person who knows the issue on Sunday. The White House was not available to comment immediately.

According to the ultimatum conditions, Hamas would have to release the remaining hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and to accept the conditions of termination of the war, including the disarmament of the group. Otherwise, the Israeli army would continue its campaign.

‘This has been our demand from the beginning’

A HAMAS official Mahmud Mardawi said that the Palestinian armed group has not yet received an official Israeli proposal for a comprehensive agreement from Arabic intermediaries. While Hamas supports such an agreement in principle, he said that he would not be disarmed with Israeli state for a long time.

In a telephone conversation, Martawi said in a telephone conversation: from the very beginning: the end of the war, the release of prisoners and the daily arrangements in the Gaza Strip-an open and comprehensive agreement, ”he said.

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The expectations of rapid progress towards such an agreement appear dim.

Hamas constantly rejected Israel’s conditions for terminating the war throughout the negotiations. On Saturday, the group said in a statement last week, although the group of Arab states was a call to do so, a Palestinian state would not remain unarmed unless it was established.

The Israeli government opposes the Palestinian state.

On Sunday, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited the El Aksa Mosque compound, which Jews revised as Temple Mountain, a Tinderbox for Israeli-Palestinian tensions. The Arab leaders condemned as a provocation that Ben-Gvir prayed to the site.

Ben-Gvir, in a video shared by his office, “We immediately conquer Gaza from this place, use our sovereignty and eliminate every last Hamas member,” he said.

Many Israelis say they support a comprehensive agreement to return all hostages and end the war. However, many of them are skeptical that such an agreement may be reached under the conditions set by the hard Israeli government, which promises to continue to fight until Hamas surrendered or destroyed.

On Sunday night, Netanyahu argued that Hamas did not “want an agreement ve and promised to“ release our captive sons, eliminate Hamas and not to pose a threat to Israel anymore ”.

‘Give us victory’

According to analysts, considering the positions of both parties, a push agreement for an Israel and American agreement may not bring an agreement.

“Hamas essentially says to Israel: ‘If you want 20 living hostages, give us a complete victory’,

Yaari said that the terms of Hamas were far beyond what Netanyahu would accept. However, the Prime Minister, “Israeli people and their voters have to continue to convince him to do everything and hostages have to secure their families,” he added.

Martawi said that Hamas saw very little reasons to negotiate with Israel, considering the terrible human situation in Gaza.

“What is the meaning of negotiations while people die of hunger?” he said.