A senior Hamas official said the group has rejected a new US-backed proposal for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza, citing the plan’s failure to guarantee an end to the war or the resumption of negotiations. The offer, put forward by U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, includes the release of 10 Israeli hostages but has been met with opposition from Hamas leadership.
Speaking to Al Manassa on condition of anonymity, the Hamas official described the new draft as a “rollback” from an earlier Witkoff proposal that the group had accepted earlier this month during two weeks of indirect negotiations in Doha. Israel, however, rejected that version outright.
“There is a clear circumvention of the earlier deal,” the official said, noting that the current proposal offers no binding commitment to resume talks or end the war once a truce and partial hostage release are implemented. “It is entirely tilted toward Israeli terms. This is no longer an American proposal—it is an Israeli-American one,” he added.
The official described the offer as “extremely limited,” saying it included no guarantees from Israel, the United States, or any intermediaries to ensure the continuity of the truce or the sustained delivery of aid.
He added that the text does not include any commitment to negotiating a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, saying, “The matter is left to future mutual agreement, which effectively hands the decision over to Netanyahu.”
He criticized the proposal’s humanitarian provisions, calling the aid clause “distorted.” According to him, the delivery of humanitarian assistance would be conditional on mutual agreement, rather than based on Gaza’s actual needs. He said the new draft omits the humanitarian protocol under which aid entered during the previous truce in January, describing the proposal as “an endorsement of starvation and continuation of the siege.”
According to the draft plan, hostages would be released in two batches over the course of one week. Hamas would be required to hand over the remains of 18 Israeli soldiers still held in Gaza in exchange for the release of Palestinian detainees from Israeli prisons.
Hamas is currently believed to be holding 58 people inside Gaza. The Israeli military says 35 of them are confirmed dead, while Israeli intelligence estimates that 22 are still alive, with the fate of two others unknown. Among the captives are four American citizens, after Hamas recently released Israeli-American soldier Edan Alexander.
Meanwhile, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against accepting the new offer. Hamas is under “under tremendous pressure,” he said, adding that Israel should “continue to tighten the noose around its neck and force it into a complete surrender deal.”
Families of Israeli captives denounced the government’s approach, accusing officials of exploiting the hostages’ plight. “History will not forgive this betrayal,” they warned, calling for an end to what they described as false promises and urging the immediate return of all detainees—men and women alike—and a halt to the war.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid also weighed in, urging the Netanyahu government to publicly and immediately accept the proposal.
“Israel must publicly and immediately accept the framework presented this morning by the American mediator, Steve Witkoff. I remind Netanyahu that he has my full backing to accept the framework, even if Ben-Gvir and Smotrich try to sabotage it,” Lapid said at the “Israel Will Win” conference hosted by the Berl Katznelson Foundation in Tel Aviv.
Israel resumed its war on Gaza on March 18 after walking away from a ceasefire agreement that had taken effect on Jan. 19. That deal aimed to end hostilities, secure the release of all hostages held by Hamas, and initiate a full Israeli withdrawal from the enclave—conditions that Israel failed to implement.
