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Steve Witkoff, the President's envoy to the Middle East, said on Friday evening that Hamas is presenting "unrealistic" demands behind the scenes, after announcing its willingness to release the hostage Edan Alexander along with four other dual-citizen hostages who were killed.
"Hamas is making a very poor gamble by believing that time is on its side. That is not the case. Hamas is well aware of the deadline and must understand that we will respond accordingly if it passes," the envoy warned. He noted that last Wednesday, he presented a "mediation" proposal to extend the ceasefire through Ramadan and Passover to allow time for negotiations over a permanent ceasefire.
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"According to the mediation proposal, Hamas will release live hostages in exchange for prisoners based on previous formulas. The first stage of the ceasefire will be extended to allow for the resumption of significant humanitarian aid, and the U.S. will work to achieve a stable solution to the ongoing conflict during the extended ceasefire period," the statement read. "Through our Qatari and Egyptian partners, it was made unequivocally clear to Hamas that the mediation must be implemented quickly—and that the American-Israeli citizen Edan Alexander must be released immediately. Unfortunately, Hamas has chosen to respond by publicly declaring flexibility while secretly presenting demands that are completely impossible without a permanent ceasefire."
On Friday afternoon, Hamas announced that it agrees to the release of Edan Alexander and four dual-citizen hostages who were killed. Israeli officials dismissed this as "manipulation," saying this is a framework proposed earlier by Trump's former hostage affairs envoy Adam Boehler, who has since been removed from his position. Sources "involved in the negotiations" told the Saudi newspaper "Asharq Al-Awsat" that Hamas' announcement is "an initial agreement" awaiting discussions by "all parties" involved in the negotiations.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated on Friday evening that the Trump administration "cares about all the hostages" when asked about the proposal. "These exchanges are ridiculous. 400 prisoners for three. It's insane. They kidnapped children, babies, took them and put them in tunnels. We're acting as if these are normal exchanges. We should all agree that what Hamas did is ridiculous, sick, disgusting, and should never have happened. This is not a normal negotiation. These are bad people—we want all the hostages out."