On Friday, the terrorist group had agreed to free the 21-year-old New Jersey native—who is the last living American hostage—along with the bodies of four slain captives. However, Hamas later introduced a series of new demands that US officials described as “entirely impractical.”
“Unfortunately, Hamas has chosen to respond by publicly claiming flexibility while privately making demands that are entirely impractical without a permanent ceasefire,” said a statement from President Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and the US National Security Council, reports The Guardian.
“Hamas is making a very bad bet that time is on its side. It is not.”
According to a senior Hamas official who spoke to the Associated Press, the group now insists that Israel must release more Palestinian prisoners, allow additional aid into Gaza, withdraw from a strategic corridor along the Egyptian border, and immediately begin negotiations for the next phase of a ceasefire deal before any hostages are freed.
This reversal comes amid negotiations in Qatar, where Witkoff and National Security Council senior director for the Middle East Eric Trager presented a US-backed proposal.
That plan would extend the first phase of the ceasefire, which ended on March 1, through mid-April, allowing more time to develop a framework to end the war. The proposal also includes the release of five additional living hostages and several deceased captives while increasing humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Israel has rejected Hamas’ latest conditions but supports the US proposal, which aligns with its stance of not opening second-phase negotiations before hostages are released. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office accused Hamas of refusing to compromise, calling its latest maneuver “manipulation and psychological warfare.”
Witkoff noted that Hamas has been given a deadline to accept the deal, though he did not specify a date. He also reiterated that Trump has promised to make Hamas “pay a severe price” for failing to release hostages “immediately.”
Currently, Hamas holds 59 hostages, 35 of whom are believed to be dead.
