WASHINGTON:
US officials
have considered negotiating a unilateral deal with
Hamas
militants to release five
American hostages
held in Gaza if
ceasefire talks
involving Israel fail, NBC News reported Monday. It was not clear what the US might offer Hamas in exchange, according to the report, which cited two current and two former US officials.
The US says Hamas is holding five Americans who were taken hostage in the group's Oct.
7 incursion inside Israel, which prompted Israel to retaliate. Officials are hoping to recover the bodies of three other Americans who were killed that day, NBC reported.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken, asked about the report as he left Cairo, said, "The best way, the most effective way to get everyone home, including the American hostages, is through this proposal, is through the ceasefire deal that's on the table right now."
Any unilateral talks would be conducted through Qatari negotiators and would not involve Israel, the unidentified officials, who have all been briefed on the negotiations, told NBC. They said Hamas would have an incentive to reach such a deal with Washington as it would strain US-Israel ties further and add pressure on Israeli PM Netanyahu, who has been criticised for not doing more to get hostages out.
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