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If Hamas does not take the proposal on offer to release the hostages in Gaza, “Israel is going to take some kinetic action,” U.S. Special Envoy for Hostage Response Adam Boehler warned in an interview with CNN on Sunday night.
The envoy said he was “optimistic” that a ceasefire agreement can be reached with the terrorist organization, “because [U.S. Special Envoy for Peace Missions Steve Witkoff] has been leaning in really closely on a deal and he’s done it with Israel.”
Boehler went on to say that “post-Israel winning [against] Iran there’s a new sense of ability to get something done. The Israelis want something done.”
When asked what it would take for Hamas to agree to a hostages-for-prisoners-exchange deal, Boehler said that “these are down to little details. … I would say that Israel at this point is bending over backward; they’re redrawing maps. … at this point, what you do, is you say, ‘Look, we’re going to take this deal, we’re going to let at least 10 hostages go…’
“We’ve got two dead Americans there [in Gaza]. We’ve got the Chens [referring to the family of U.S.-Israeli dual citizen Sgt. Itay Chen] and we have the Neutras [referring to the family of U.S.-Israeli dual citizen Capt. Omer Neutra]. We have to get those Americans out and we need to get the other hostages out.”
The American negotiator further stated, “Hamas is very hard-headed. They’ve been offered many things that they should take and it’s time for Hamas to release the hostages. So I’m more optimistic than I was, because all those factors are there. We’ve got an A-team negotiating it. Now what I really want to see is Hamas take action.”
Boehler stressed that the current offer is a “firm pathway to negotiation and peace. That’s the best [that Hamas is] going to get and they should take the deal on offer.”
He noted that Gaza’s Islamic dictatorship has not taken deals proposed in the past, warning that “every single time they don’t take it, it [the terms offered] goes down and goes down and goes down.
“So my recommendation to Hamas would be take the deal that Israel [and] the United States is offering you, let’s get some people home, and let’s move to end this conflict,” Boehler said.
Boehler spoke to CNN on the backdrop of the release of 10 American hostages from Venezuela via a prisoner swap deal between the U.S., the South American country and El Salvador.
The special envoy said that the message conveyed by this latest proposal is that it is “high time that every country realized that if you’re holding an American, it’s a real problem.”
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Boehler emphasized that Washington will not pay hundreds of millions in ransom, but expects countries to release U.S. hostages unilaterally “to get in America’s good graces.”
Fifty hostages remain in Gaza, 49 of whom were abducted to the Strip during the Hamas-led cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023. One body of an Israeli officer, Lt. Hadar Goldin, has been held in Gaza since 2014.
According to Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the 50 being held in Gaza include 28 deceased abductees.
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