With little prospect for a deal, Israel floats Sinwar exile proposal to Biden

By CNN Newsource

Published September 19, 2024 8:57 AM

By Eugenia Yousif, Mick Krever and Jeremy Diamond, CNN

(CNN) — A senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has presented to the Biden administration a new proposed ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas, an Israeli official told CNN.

The proposal from Gal Hirsch, a close Netanyahu ally who serves as Israel’s coordinator for hostages and the missing, would see a permanent end to the conflict in Gaza, the release in one stage of all hostages held there in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, and the safe passage for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar to be exiled out of Gaza, according to Kan 11, an Israeli national broadcaster and CNN affiliate.

Reactions to the proposal have widely been that it will be a non-starter for Hamas, which has not commented on it.

It is unclear whether the proposal addresses the presence of Israeli troops in Gaza after a ceasefire and hostage deal – a key sticking point in stalled negotiations. And the idea that Sinwar would leave Gaza is seen as unlikely by American officials.

A separate Israeli source familiar with the negotiations said the proposal was not being discussed among the Israeli negotiating team as a basis for new negotiations with Hamas, which have been at a standstill for weeks now.

The Hostages Families Forum initially praised the outline, but later on Thursday called it a “cynical and cheap manipulation.”

“This is fraud whose purpose is to thwart the new American initiative to release the hostages and stop the war in Gaza,” the organization said. “Soon we will celebrate a year of abandonment. This is a moral and value bankruptcy that the state has never seen before.”

Talks stall

The proposal comes at a time when the prospects for a deal have never been lower. The families of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza have expressed dismay at escalating tensions with Hezbollah in Lebanon, saying that a widescale war there would only lower the chances of a hostage deal.

Joe Biden’s national security advisers have no imminent plans to present the US president with an updated proposal in the Israel-Hamas war ceasefire negotiations, two senior administration officials told CNN – the latest indication that talks to end the conflict have seriously stalled.

Netanyahu will not meet with Biden during his visit to New York for the United Nations General Assembly next week, an Israel source familiar with the matter told CNN.

Hirsch met early last week with Roger Carstens, the US special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, to discuss negotiations to free the hostages held in Gaza.

The notion of facilitating Sinwar’s exile has been discussed at various points in the negotiations as part of the later stages of an eventual ceasefire agreement, although there is no indication that Sinwar would agree to such terms.

Gershon Baskin, who has extensive experience negotiating with Hamas, told CNN that anyone who thought Sinwar would leave Gaza “does not live in this world.”

“Gaza is Sinwar’s sea and he is a fish. A fish does not come out of the sea willingly.”

Nonetheless, if the agreement included the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, it would come “close to a deal that Hamas is ready for,” Baskin added.

Previously, when the idea was raised of allowing top Hamas leaders like Sinwar to leave Gaza as part of a ceasefire agreement, American officials said they thought it was unlikely Sinwar would agree. They cited Israel’s assassinations of Hamas leaders in foreign capitals, and said they believed Sinwar would prefer to die fighting Israel than to leave Gaza.

“I even believe that we will agree to build safe passage to the chief terrorist, the new Hitler, Sinwar – safe passage to him and whoever he wants to join him out of Gaza,” Hirsch told CNN earlier this month.

Correction: This story was updated to correct the spelling of Hirsch’s name.

CNN’s Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.