Despite rejecting 'unacceptable' Hamas amendments to ceasefire proposal, Israel sends team to Qatar for talks

Israel is sending a negotiating team to Doha, Qatar, for renewed talks on a hostage-ceasefire deal, the prime minister’s office announced on Saturday night. 

The talks are based on the recent proposal by Qatar, which is said to be a modified version of the Witkoff proposal, submitted earlier this year. The proposal would see a 60-day ceasefire, with the release of 10 living hostages and 18 deceased hostages, roughly half of the remaining hostages in Gaza. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on Saturday night, “The changes Hamas is requesting to make to the Qatari proposal were delivered to us last night and are unacceptable to Israel.”

“After assessing the situation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed us to accept the invitation for proximity talks and to continue the talks for the return of our hostages on the basis of the Qatari proposal that Israel agreed to,” the statement continued. “The negotiating team will leave tomorrow (Sunday) for talks in Qatar.” 

Netanyahu is set to leave for Washington, D.C., later on Sunday to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump. While the visit is partly intended to celebrate Israeli achievements during Operation Rising Lion, President Trump has indicated he will also press Netanyahu on ending the war in Gaza, saying last week that he would be firm with the prime minister.

On Friday, Hamas claimed it had given a “positive” response to the ceasefire proposal. 

“We submitted our positive response to the mediators yesterday. A new round of negotiations is expected to begin, focusing on the core issues: Israeli withdrawal and an end to the war,” a Hamas official told Emirati news site The National on Saturday. 

The Emirati news agency also reported that Hamas is seeking personal guarantees from President Trump to secure a permanent ceasefire. 

“The guarantees we are seeking must come from the Americans – President Trump personally, not anyone else,” a Hamas official told The National. 

Besides seeking guarantees of a permanent ceasefire, Hamas has also requested that an unnamed Arab nation accept and store its weapons under a ceasefire agreement. The terror group has demanded the release of around 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in return for the release of 10 living and 18 deceased hostages. 

Another one of the proposed changes asked for by Hamas is the closure of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s humanitarian aid distribution sites and a return to UN-only distribution. Israel has provided documentation of Hamas gunmen seizing UN aid trucks in the past, and several of the released hostages have testified that Hamas regularly receives the UN aid packages. 

“Regarding aid distribution, the original text assigns the task to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, but we requested it be amended to specify recognized UN agencies, such as UNRWA and others,” the Hamas official said. 

On Saturday, two American aid workers at a GHF distribution site were moderately wounded by a grenade, apparently thrown by Hamas operatives. 

This morning, two American aid workers were injured in a targeted terrorist attack during food distribution activities at SDS-3 in Khan Younis. The attack – which preliminary information indicates was carried out by two assailants who threw two grenades at the Americans –…

— Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (@GHFUpdates) July 5, 2025

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce blamed “Hamas terrorists” for carrying out the attack. 

Hamas has threatened to attack both American and Palestinian workers at the U.S.-backed Foundation. GHF announced last week that Hamas had killed 12 of its local staff and tortured others in an attempt to stop the organization from distributing aid directly to Palestinians.