WASHINGTON — Biden administration officials have discussed the possibility of negotiating a unilateral agreement with Hamas to secure the release of five American hostages in Gaza if current ceasefire talks involving Israel fail, according to two current and two former senior U.S. officials.
Those negotiations would not include Israel and would be conducted through a Qatari intermediary, as are the current talks, officials briefed on the discussions said.
White House officials declined to comment.
The Biden administration has said it believes Hamas is holding hostage five Americans kidnapped during a terrorist attack in Israel on October 7. U.S. authorities also want to recover the bodies of three Americans believed to have been killed by Hamas that same day, which Hamas is in the process of bringing the bodies to the Gaza Strip.
The officials did not know what the United States would give Hamas in exchange for the release of the American hostages, but they said Hamas may have an incentive to make a unilateral deal with the United States because doing so would likely further strain U.S.-Israeli relations and add domestic political pressure to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
One former official said the internal talks were also taking place in the context of whether a unilateral U.S. deal with Hamas could pressure Netanyahu to agree to modifications to the current ceasefire proposal.
Israeli leaders are already under intense pressure from the hostages’ families to reach a deal to free their loved ones. Earlier this week, Israeli officials estimated that around 120 hostages are still being held by Hamas, 43 of whom have died in captivity.
The five Americans believed to be held in Gaza are Edan Alexander, Sagui Dekel Chen, Hersh Goldberg Pollin, Omer Neutra and Keith Siegel.
Four Israeli hostages kidnapped from the Nova music festival last weekend have been rescued in an Israel Defense Forces operation. The Gaza Ministry of Health said at least 274 Palestinians, including dozens of children, were killed in the Israeli military raids.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to visit the region on Monday to discuss the latest efforts to secure a ceasefire agreement. A senior administration official told NBC News that an Israeli raid on Saturday to free four hostages will likely further complicate Blinken’s efforts to reach an agreement and free the remaining hostages.
The rescue of the Israeli hostages only strengthens Netanyahu’s resolve to continue the military operation in Gaza, rather than promising an end to the fighting, a senior administration official said.
The U.S. has previously conducted prisoner exchanges in an effort to free Americans wrongfully held overseas. It is unclear whether there are any prisoners in U.S. custody that Hamas would want released or that the Biden administration would deem safe to release based on their criminal histories.
But a current US official said the idea of negotiating a deal between the Biden administration and Hamas remains a “very real option” if the current proposed ceasefire does not move forward.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday that the United States was still waiting for an “official” response from Hamas to its latest proposal. Last week, both CIA Director Bill Burns and White House Middle East coordinator Brett McGurk visited the region to continue talks on the proposal.
