According to I24, a senior Egyptian official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said Hamas leaders who have refused to leave Gaza are demanding Israel fully withdraw from the area.
Under the proposal, top Hamas leaders in Gaza, including Yahya Sinwar, would be allowed to relocate to other countries.
Axios reported that Israel submitted a proposal through Qatari and Egyptian mediators.
The proposal would have seen a phased release of the remaining 136 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, beginning with the remaining children, women, men over the age of 60 and critically ill hostages in exchange for the Palestinian terrorists.
If the ceasefire holds, female soldiers and men under the age of 60 who aren’t soldiers would be released, followed by male soldiers and then the bodies of hostages and October 7 victims held by Hamas.
Under the agreement, the IDF would withdraw from the main population centers in Gaza and allow the gradual return of Palestinians to North of the strip. However, Israel did not agree to end the war or release all of the 6,000 terrorists held in their custody.
Hamas has repeatedly said it will not release any hostages unless the IDF withdraws completely from Gaza, a nonstarter for Israel, which has vowed to eliminate the terrorist group in response to the October 7 massacre.
On Monday, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with the families of hostages and told them that “contrary to what has been said, there is no real Hamas proposal.”
According to a statement released by his office, he added, “I tell you this as clearly as I can, because there are so many untrue [claims] that must be torturing you. On the other hand, we have an [Israel] initiative, and I will not elaborate.”
Channel 12 published a recording of the meeting, in which Netanyahu could be heard telling the families, “There is a proposal of mine, which I also passed in the war cabinet. We conveyed it and now there is, as they say, a tug of war."
“I can’t elaborate here, but our proposal is something we have passed on to the mediators.”
