Gal Hirsch, Israel's chief hostage negotiator, proposed offering safe passage out of Gaza for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in exchange for 101 hostages the terrorists are still holding, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday.
Hamas kidnapped the hostages during the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel.
Hirsch said he made the offer as prospects of another solution fade.
"I'm ready to provide safe passage to Sinwar, his family, whoever wants to join him," he told Bloomberg. "We want the hostages back. We want demilitarization, de-radicalization of course — a new system that will manage Gaza."
According to the report, the offer has been on the table for two days, but it's unclear what Hamas' response was or if it responded at all.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had previously raised he possibility of offering Sinwar exile, told a podcast in May, "I think the most important thing is that they surrender. If they lay down their arms, the war is over."
Attempts by the U.S., Egypt, and Qatar to negotiate a cease-fire and hostage release have stalled.
"The fierce urgency of now is real for every individual who is suffering as a consequence of this conflict," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview. "We feel that urgency, and we — and so we have a determination."
Blinken added: "Now, at the end of the day, people have to make decisions. Leaders have to make decisions. We can't make those decisions for them."
The Israeli military has referred to Sinwar as a "dead man walking" for his role in planning and executing the Oct. 7 massacre. He rose as head of Hamas after Israel Hamas' top political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in July while at a guesthouse in Tehran.
Israel has claimed responsibility for Haniyeh's death.
Kate McManus ✉
Kate McManus is a New Jersey-based Newsmax writer who's spent more than two decades as a journalist.
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