Hamas tries to pull bait-and-switch on Donald Trump's Middle East envoy after latest cease-fire proposal: ‘Completely unacceptable'
Hamas appears to have tried to pull a bait-and-switch on the latest cease-fire deal by altering the terms of the proposal that were sent to the terror group, according to President Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff.
Hamas claimed on Monday that it had been presented with a new US proposal that would see a 70-day ceasefire and the release of five live hostages on the first and final days of the truce, a Hamas-tied Palestinian official told Reuters.
The deal Hamas claimed to have received would also include a partial withdrawal Israeli from the Gaza Strip, the official said. This supposed deal would also include the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners being held by Israel, many serving lengthy prison sentences.
But a 'disappointed' Witkoff blasted Hamas, claiming that the terms of the deal he had actually sent to Hamas were very different from their response.
The latest Witkoff proposal includes the release of 10 living and 19 dead hostages in return for 45 to 60 days of ceasefire and the release of Palestinian prisoners.
'What I have seen from Hamas is disappointing and completely unacceptable,' Witkoff, a New York real estate billionaire, told Axios.
He said Israel agreed to the terms of the deal he proposed, and that it would offer a path to a permanent cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.
'I agreed to lead these negotiations. There is a deal on the table, and Hamas needs to accept it,' Witkoff told CNN Monday.The ceasefire 'will lead to meaningful negotiations to find a path to a permanent ceasefire,' he added.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office dismissed the Hamas deal as 'a US proposal' on Monday.
'No responsible Israeli government could accept it,' the statement from Netanyahu's office read.The last ceasefire agreed between Israel and Hamas, which began in January, effectively ended on March 18 when Netanyahu's forces renewed its military campaign in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking at a press conference in Jerusalem on May 21, 2025
Hamas responded with rocket attacks and strikes on Israel two days later.
The terror group has asserted it will only free all of the remaining Israeli hostages seized in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel, and agree to a permanent ceasefire if the Jewish state pulls out of Gaza completely.
Netanyahu's office has insisted that the war will only end once Hamas is eradicated.
Originally published as Hamas tries to pull bait-and-switch on Donald Trump's Middle East envoy after latest cease-fire proposal: 'Completely unacceptable'
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