According to two Israeli officials and a source familiar with the proposal, Hamas presented Israel with a proposal for a new hostage agreement on Sunday through Qatari and Egyptian intermediaries: Jerusalem rejected the proposal, but one of the Israeli officials said the offer showed that Hamas is ready to begin negotiations on a new hostage-taking agreement even as fighting continues in Gaza. Axios' website says the plan called for a three-step process. One of the Israeli officials said that each phase should include a pause in fighting of more than a month in return for the release of the hostages. Under the proposal, Israel would begin withdrawing its forces from Gaza during the implementation of the deal's first phase, which would include the release of around 40 hostages, the official said. Some Palestinian prisoners should probably be released too. The proposal would end the war after implementing the final phase of the deal, which would include the release of soldiers held hostage in Gaza, the official said. Israel's war cabinet discussed the new Hamas proposal and told Qatari and Egyptian mediators on Monday that it found it unacceptable, the Israeli official said. “The proposal we received from Hamas was completely out of place and we asked the mediators to try to come up with something more acceptable. They are working on it and let’s see what will happen,” the official said. “We are in the preliminary phase” of the talks. The negotiations are no longer deadlocked, but there is still no significant progress.”
