Biden admin has discussed going around Israel, negotiating directly with Hamas to free five US hostages: report
The Biden administration has discussed going around Israel and negotiating directly with Hamas to secure the freedom of five American hostages held in Gaza if the terrorists’ cease-fire talks with the Jewish state ultimately fail, current and former US officials say.
The negotiations would be conducted through Qatar, which has helped free American hostages in the past, two current senior US officials and two former officials briefed on the discussions told NBC News in a report published Monday.
The US would seek to free Israeli Americans Edan Alexander, Sagui Dekel-Chen, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Omer Neutra and Keith Siegel, as well as secure the bodies of three other Israeli Americans believed to have been killed during the Oct. 7 terrorist attack: Itay Chen, Judy Weinstein and Gad Haggai.
Goldberg-Polin’s parents, Rachel and Jon, said they welcome an American deal to free their son, a 23-year-old dual Israeli citizen who had one of his arms amputated after his abduction.
“We have seen the reports that the US administration is considering negotiating directly with Hamas on freeing US citizens from captivity in Gaza,” the parents said in a statement.
“We welcome any negotiations that will lead to the return home of our loved ones who have been in captivity for over 8 months,” they said. “We pray that every family with hostages will be reunited with their loved ones imminently.”
The negotiations would not include Israel, whose peace talks with Hamas have remained deadlocked over the terror group’s demands that the war end permanently and that it be allowed to continue governing Gaza.
Although it remains unclear what America could give Hamas in exchange for the hostages’ release, officials said the terror group could find a deal attractive as a means to further strain relations between the US and Israel and undermine Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
A former senior official claimed that internal discussions about a US proposal included the possibility that Netanyahu could be pressured to compromise on a cease-fire agreement should America secure its own unilateral deal with Hamas first.
The prime minister is already under extreme domestic pressure to reach a deal to free the estimated 120 hostages remaining in Gaza.
Netanyahu has maintained that military pressure is the best way to save the hostages, including when he touted Saturday’s raid in central Gaza that saw four Israeli hostages saved after eight months in Hamas captivity.
The White House did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
