Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a cabinet meeting at the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem on June 5, 2024. Photo: Gil Cohen-Magen/Pool via REUTERS

i24 News – Israel is offering Hamas a new deal that would see it halt the war in Gaza and release 3,000 of Palestinian security prisoners for those Israeli hostages who are still alive, a Kuwaiti report claimed on Friday.

According to a report in the al-Jarida outlet, as few as 25 of the Israelis held in Gaza are alive. The report cites a “high-ranking source” in Qatar.

A different report in the Wall Street Journal cited an Israeli official as saying that Jerusalem made an offer of safe passage to Hamas members: “Enjoy safe passage to another country if you lay down your arms and release the hostages.”

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “has reiterated that we are willing to give them safe passage if they lay down their arms and release the hostages,” said Ophir Falk, the prime minister’s foreign-policy adviser. “At the same time, anyone who will hurt the hostages will be hunted down.”

The offer was swiftly rejected by the Palestinian jihadists. The WSJ report cited Israeli pessimism over the prospects of securing a hostage deal during the remainder of Joe Biden’s term.