JERUSALEM (AP) — Hamas said Friday it has accepted a proposal from mediators to release one living American-Israeli hostage and the bodies of four dual-nationals who had died in captivity. The Israeli prime minister's office cast doubt on the offer, accusing Hamas of trying to manipulate talks underway in Qatar on the next stage of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire.
The militant group in the Gaza Strip did not immediately specify when the release of soldier Edan Alexander and the four bodies would take place — or what it expected to get in return.
Alexander was 19 when he was abducted from his base on the border with Gaza in southern Israel during the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023 that sparked the war, which has been the deadliest and most destructive fighting ever between Israel and Hamas.
It was not clear which mediators had proposed the release to Hamas and the militants didn't name them. The United States, led by Trump administration hostage envoy Steve Witkoff, has been pushing for a proposal that would extend the truce and see a limited number of hostage for prisoner exchanges.
Following the Hamas statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Israel had “accepted the Witkoff outline and showed flexibility,” but said that “Hamas is refusing and will not budge from its positions.”
“At the same time, it continues to use manipulation and psychological warfare — the reports about Hamas’ willingness to release American hostages are intended to sabotage the negotiations,” read a letter from the government to hostage families.
It added that Israel’s negotiating team would return Friday from the Qatari capital of Doha. Netanyahu said he plans to convene his ministerial team on Saturday night to hear from the negotiators and decide on the next steps.
Ceasefire is at a tense point
The first phase of the ceasefire ended two weeks ago but the pause in fighting has held — if tensely — for now.
The White House last week made a surprise announcement, saying that American officials had engaged in “ongoing talks and discussions” with Hamas officials, stepping away from a long-held U.S. policy of not directly engaging with the militant group. That prompted a terse response from Netanyahu’s office.
It was not immediately clear whether those talks were linked to Hamas’ Friday announcement about releasing Alexander and the remains of the four additional captives, whose names were not disclosed.
In a separate statement, Hamas official Husam Badran reaffirmed what he said was Hamas’ commitment to fully implementing the ceasefire agreement in all its phases. He warned that any Israeli deviation from the terms would return negotiations to square one.
The first phase of the ceasefire allowed the return of 25 living hostages and the remains of eight others in exchange for the release of nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.
Israeli forces have withdrawn to buffer zones inside Gaza, hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have returned to northern Gaza, and hundreds of trucks of aid entered daily until Israel cut off supplies to the territory's 2 million people two weeks ago.
Hamas is believed still to have 24 living hostages and the bodies of 35 others.
Hostages' families press for ‘comprehensive deal’
A group that represents the families of most captives said Friday that it welcomed plans to release any but that the focus must remain on returning all.
“Without a comprehensive deal, we risk sealing the fate of all remaining hostages,” the Hostage Families Forum said in a statement.
Israel has been urging Hamas to release half of the remaining hostages in return for an extension of the first phase, and a promise to negotiate a lasting truce. The supply cutoff came as Israel pressed the militants to agree. Eighty percent of Gaza's residents have lost access to food sources, and 90% are can't access clean drinking water, according to the Hamas-run government media office in Gaza.
Hamas wants to start negotiations on the ceasefire’s more difficult second phase, which would entail the release of the remaining hostages, the withdrawal of Israeli forces and a lasting peace.
Muslims pray amid restrictions at Al-Aqsa mosque
The developments came as Jews began celebrating the Purim holiday, and Muslims continued marking the holy month of Ramadan. Some 80,000 Muslim worshippers prayed Friday at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound, according to the Islamic Trust, which monitors the site. Israel is tightly controlling access to the prayers, allowing only men over 55 and women over 50 to enter from the occupied territory.
“The conditions are extremely difficult,” said Yousef Badreen, a Palestinian who left the southern West Bank city of Hebron at dawn to make it to Jerusalem. “We wish they will open it for good.”
Hamas accused Israel of escalating a “religious war” against Palestinians, casting the Al-Aqsa restrictions as “systematic targeting of Muslim religious practices." The Israeli government did not immediately respond.
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Associated Press writers David Rising in Bangkok and Jennifer Peltz in New York contributed to this report.
Julia Frankel, The Associated Press