Biden administration officials have discussed potentially negotiating a unilateral deal with Hamas to secure the release of five Americans being held hostage in Gaza if current cease-fire talks involving Israel fail, according to two current senior U.S. officials and two former senior U.S. officials.
The Biden administration has said it believes Hamas is holding five American hostages who were abducted during the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel.
The officials did not know what the U.S. might give Hamas in exchange for the release of American hostages.
Earlier this week, Israeli officials estimated that some 120 hostages are still being held by Hamas and that 43 of them have died in captivity.
Over the weekend, four Israeli hostages kidnapped from the Nova music festival were rescued in an operation conducted by the Israel Defense Forces.
Persons:
Biden, Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, Netanyahu, Alexander, Sagui Dekel, Chen, Hersh Goldberg, Polin, Omer Neutra, Keith Siegel, Itay Chen, Judy Weinstein, Gad Haggai, Antony Blinken, Jake Sullivan, Bill Burns, Brett McGurk
Organizations:
Hamas, U.S, Qatari interlocutors, White, Nova, Israel Defense Forces, NBC News, National, CIA
Locations:
Gaza, New York City , New York, Israel, Qatari, U.S