Benjamin Netanyahu agrees to keep talking about Gaza ceasefire after new hostage release offers

Israel is ready to keep talking about a ceasefire, following a US suggestion to free 11 hostages who are alive and half of the ones who have passed away, as announced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday night.

Netanyahu’s office shared in a statement that “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a detailed discussion tonight regarding the hostages, along with the negotiating team and security leaders.

“After this discussion, the Prime Minister asked the negotiating team to get ready to continue the discussions based on the response from the mediators to the Witkoff proposal, which involves the immediate release of 11 living hostages and half of those who have passed away.”

The latest development comes just a day after Hamas said it would release the last living American-Israeli hostage and the remains of four other dual-national hostages after receiving a proposal from mediators to continue negotiations on the second phase of a Gaza ceasefire deal.

Edan Alexander, 21, who has been held for 525 days, will be released along with the bodies of four other hostages who died in captivity, Hamas has claimed.

Tonight, Hamas said the release will only happen if Israel implements their ceasefire agreement, calling it an ‘exceptional deal’ aimed at getting the truce back on track. .

A senior Hamas official said long-delayed talks over the ceasefire’s second phase would need to begin the day of the release and last no longer than 50 days. 

Israel would also need to stop barring the entry of humanitarian aid and withdraw from a strategic corridor along Gaza’s border with Egypt.

Israel is prepared to continue ceasefire talks based on a US proposal for the release of 11 living hostages and half of the deceased, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced on Saturday night

Hamas said it would release the last living American-Israeli hostage, Edan Alexander, 21, and the remains of four other dual-national hostages after receiving a proposal from mediators to continue negotiations on the second phase of a Gaza ceasefire deal

Alexander is thought to be the last living American hostage. He appeared in a Hamas propaganda video in November 2024 (pictured)

But Israel has said it would not withdraw from there, citing the need to combat weapons smuggling.

Alexander, who was just 19 when he was abducted during Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, is thought to be the last living American hostage. 

He appeared in a Hamas propaganda video in November 2024. Israel says four other American hostages died in captivity. 

Having grown up in Tenafly, New Jersey, Alexander decided to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces after he graduated from high school.

Hamas’ statement comes as talks continue in Doha to try to broker the next stage of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, the first phase of which ended two weeks ago.  

‘Yesterday, a Hamas leadership delegation received a proposal from the brotherly mediators to resume negotiations,’ a Hamas spokesperson said in a statement on Friday.

The group added its reply ‘included its agreement to release the Israeli soldier Edan Alexander, who holds American citizenship, along with the remains of four others holding dual citizenship.’

Hamas official Husam Badran, in a separate statement, reaffirmed what he said was the organization’s commitment to fully implementing the ceasefire agreement in all its phases, warning that any Israeli deviation from the terms would return negotiations to square one.

American President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff told reporters at the White House early in March that gaining the release of Alexander was a ‘top priority’.

Yael Alexander, center in grey scarf, holds a poster of her son Edan during a rally in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025 for the families and supporters of hostages held in the Gaza

Hamas is seen handing over Omer Shem Tov to the International Committee of the Red Cross on February 22, 2025 during the seventh exchange of the ceasefire deal

For weeks, the soldier’s mother Yael Alexander has been watching the release of hostages from Gaza, hoping she soon might see her son’s name on a list of those to be freed.

‘This is a critical time,’ Yael  said last month. ‘I know my son is probably in tunnels, so I understand that he’s not seeing sunlight, and the air is very thin underground.’

She added: ‘It’s very, very difficult for me to even think about it.’

Since his abduction, Alexander’s relatives have divided their time between Israel, Washington, DC, where they meet frequently with politicians, and their New Jersey home. 

Yael, who has participated in rallies demanding for the hostages to be released, previously said that Trump’s commitment to her son’s release sparked hope.

‘Every time they say Edan’s name, it’s like they didn’t forget. They didn’t forget he’s American, and they’re working on it,’ she said.

The US, Qatar, and Egypt have been trying to bridge differences between Hamas and Israel to restart negotiations for the second phase of the ceasefire deal in order to release the remaining hostages held in Gaza and facilitate the entry of aid into the war-torn enclave.

Israel is pressing the militant group to accept an extension of the first phase of the ceasefire.

Israel blocked the entry of aid trucks into Gaza on March 2 as a standoff over the truce escalated, with Hamas calling on Egyptian and Qatari mediators to intervene. 

US President Donald Trump, pictured meeting with released hostages in the Oval Office earlier this month, has previously said gaining the release of Alexander was a ‘top priority’

Hamas says it wants to start negotiations on the ceasefire’s more difficult second phase, which would see the release of remaining hostages from Gaza, the withdrawal of Israeli forces and a lasting peace.

Fighting in Gaza has been halted since January 19 under the first phase of the three-phase ceasefire accord. 

Hamas has exchanged 33 Israeli hostages and five Thais for some 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

The second phase involves talks over an agreement for the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from the enclave. 

Israel demands that Hamas free the remaining hostages without beginning phase two negotiations.

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