Israel “said yes” to US President Donald Trump’s latest proposal for a hostage release and ceasefire deal with Hamas in Gaza, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said Tuesday, hours before Israel targeted Hamas leadership in apparent airstrikes in the Qatari capital that cast further doubt on the viability of a deal.
The strikes targeted the Hamas headquarters in Doha, where the terror group’s leaders had gathered to discuss the US’s proposal, according to Hamas sources, a day after Qatari prime minister pressed the group to accept the deal.
According to Israeli officials, the strike was aimed at top Hamas leaders, including Khalil al-Hayya, the terror group’s exiled Gaza chief and top negotiator. Hamas sources claimed the top officials who were targeted in the strikes survived the attack.
“The war in Gaza can end tomorrow,” Sa’ar said during a press conference in Croatia. “We are ready to accept a deal that would end this war, based on the cabinet decision,” he added, noting that Israel had two demands for ending the war — the release of all the hostages and Hamas laying down its arms.
The latter demand “ensures a better future for Gazans, for the Palestinians there,” as Hamas is “a problem for Palestinians and for the region,” he said.
The US and Israel have yet to provide details for the proposal, though reports said it entails the immediate release of all hostages held in Gaza within 48 hours in exchange for an assurance from the US that Israel would not subsequently resume the war.
Channel 12 news reported on Sunday that under the new proposal, Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza would be gradual but would take place mostly at the start of the ceasefire. Negotiators would then have 60 days — or as long as it takes — to come to an agreement on the disarmament of Hamas, the specifics of Israel’s withdrawal, and an alternative government for Gaza, according to the network.
“Israelis and Palestinians have suffered enough,” said Sa’ar. “As long as Hamas remains in power, the suffering on both sides will not end.”
On Monday, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani pressed Hamas political leaders to “respond positively” to the US proposal during talks in Doha, according to an official briefed on the talks.
“The Qatari prime minister pressed Hamas to respond positively to the latest American proposal, conveyed through mediators, and aimed at securing a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza,” the official said.
After the strikes in Doha on Tuesday, a senior Qatari official blasted Israel, saying the operation came as Doha was working to advance the new hostage deal framework, crafted last week by US special envoy Steve Witkoff.
“Hamas received the new US proposal from us, which we obtained from Witkoff last week in Paris. Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed Abdulrahman Al Thani met with Hamas negotiators yesterday. The Hamas delegation then decided to meet again today to discuss the proposal, traveling from Turkey to Qatar, where the strike took place,” the official said.
“However, as has happened before, the Israelis undermined hopes for peace, further prolonging the war and complicating efforts to bring back the hostages,” the senior Qatari official added in a statement.
According to reports in Hebrew media, Qatar informed Israel that it is suspending its role as a mediator in talks with Hamas after the strikes on its territory, effectively shutting down the negotiations that had been taking place in Doha.
Even before the strikes, an Arab mediating source told The Times of Israel on Monday that the US proposal was unlikely to succeed, as Hamas does not trust the proposed assurance from Washington that Israel would not resume the war after the hostages are released.
Hamas has pushed back against the idea of immediately releasing all remaining hostages without concrete guarantees that Israel will not be able to resume the war. In the past, it has sought a UN Security Council resolution that would sanction Israel if it returned to fighting.
It has not found US assurances to be sufficient, the Arab mediating source said, pointing to the Trump administration’s backing of the Israeli decision to resume the war in March, rather than transition to the second phase of the ceasefire and hostage release deal that had been in place at the time.
Another possible sticking point was reported by the Saudi-owned Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, which on Monday cited Hamas sources who said it would be impossible for the terror group to release all 48 hostages from Gaza at the onset of the ceasefire, since some slain captives’ remains are inaccessible due to the IDF presence in Gaza.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to hold a cabinet meeting to discuss the US proposal, which could well face pushback from his far-right coalition partners over its requirement to withdraw from Gaza, where many of them envision Israel reestablishing settlements.
Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are holding 48 hostages, including 47 of the 251 abducted by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza.
They include the bodies of at least 26 confirmed dead by the IDF. Twenty are believed to be alive, and there are grave concerns for the well-being of two others, Israeli officials have said. Among the bodies held by Hamas is an IDF soldier killed in Gaza in 2014.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 64,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed over 22,000 combatants in battle as of August and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught.
Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.
Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 465. The toll includes two police officers and three Defense Ministry civilian contractors.