The hostage deal framework recently crafted by US special envoy Steve Witkoff is unlikely to succeed, an Arab mediating source told The Times of Israel on Monday.

The proposal envisions Hamas releasing all remaining hostages within the first 48 hours in exchange for an assurance from the US that Israel would not subsequently resume the war, along with the release of several thousand Palestinians imprisoned in Israel, including roughly 250 serving life sentences for involvement in attacks in which Israelis were killed, the source said.

Hamas has pushed back against the idea of immediately releasing all remaining hostages without concrete guarantees that Israel will not be able to resume the war. In the past, it has sought a UN Security Council resolution that would sanction Israel if it returned to fighting.

It has not found US assurances to be sufficient, the Arab mediating source said, pointing to the Trump administration’s backing of the Israeli decision to resume the war in March, rather than transition to the second phase of the ceasefire and hostage release deal that had been in place.

While US President Donald Trump said Sunday that Israel had accepted his terms for a hostage deal that ends the war, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to hold a cabinet meeting to discuss the exchange, which could well face pushback from his far-right coalition partners over its requirement to withdraw from Gaza, where many of them envision Israel reestablishing settlements.

Witkoff has long tried to persuade Hamas through intermediaries that the US would not allow Israel to resume the war once a hostage deal is in place. However, he has held off on crafting deals that explicitly say so amid concerns that Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners might make good on threats to collapse the government if he commits up front to end the war in exchange for the hostages, sources familiar with the negotiations have told The Times of Israel.

Despite the Arab mediating source’s pessimism about the deal’s chances, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani pressed Hamas political leaders to “respond positively” to the US proposal during talks in Doha on........

© The Times of Israel