In a separate, unsourced report, the network said Hamas is also demanding that Israel release terrorists from Hamas\u2019s elite Nukhba force, who took part in the terror group\u2019s October 7, 2023, invasion and massacre \u2014 a demand Israel has consistently rejected.<\/p>\n
\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2012-01-25T120000Z_513192337_GM1E81P1JEB01_RTRMADP_3_PALESTINIANS-ISRAEL-640x400.jpg\")
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Jailed terror convict and Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti (C) is accompanied by Israeli prison guards after a hearing at Jerusalem Magistrate\u2019s Court, January 25, 2012. (REUTERS\/Ammar Awad)<\/p>\n
Speaking to Channel 12, Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter \u2014 a cabinet minister and former Shin Bet chief \u2014 appeared to indicate that Israel would be willing to release the convicted terrorists, but raised doubts about freeing those involved in the October 7 invasion.<\/p>\n
Dichter noted that in the past Israel had freed some of the most notorious terrorists, including Hamas\u2019s founder, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who was twice released in deals. In 1985, Israel traded him and 1,150 other security prisoners for three captured IDF soldiers. He was later rearrested. In 1997, he was released as part of a deal in exchange for two Mossad officers captured in Jordan while trying to kill Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI twice brought him to jail and once to the end of his life,\u201d said Dichter, who was Shin Bet chief when Yassin was assassinated in an IAF helicopter strike in 2004.<\/p>\n
Dichter said that while there was precedent for releasing convicted terrorists, those who participated in the October 7 massacre had not yet been tried for their crimes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a different story,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/AP20003479264549-e1704627783248-640x400.jpg\")
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Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, founder of the Palestinian terror group Hamas, talks to the media during a celebration to welcome him back to Gaza, held at the Islamic complex in Gaza City, June 25, 1998. (AP Photo\/Adel Hana, File)<\/p>\n
According to the Hamas sources cited by Channel 12, the terror group also wants guarantees that there will ultimately be a full IDF withdrawal from Gaza, with a timetable; and that the IDF\u2019s initial withdrawal be larger than the one shown in a map issued by Trump on Sunday. Hamas was said to be demanding a withdrawal to the lines where the IDF was deployed in January during the last ceasefire.<\/p>\n
Palestinian sources close to the negotiations were cited by the Kan public broadcaster saying that Hamas\u2019s top priority was the depth and timeline of the IDF withdrawal, while long-term issues such as the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip were on the back burner for the terror group.<\/p>\n
Channel 12 further reported that the Hamas negotiating team under Khalil al-Hayya will hold simultaneous talks with a Palestinian Authority team, as it seeks to ensure that the initial mechanism for \u201cday-after\u201d Gaza includes the PA.<\/p>\n
The report noted a statement<\/a> by PA President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday promising PA reforms, including the formulation of a temporary constitution within three months and elections within a year. According to Channel 12, Abbas would permit Hamas to contest those elections only if it accepts Israel\u2019s right to exist.<\/p>\n \t Israeli military vehicles deploy at Israel\u2019s border with the Gaza Strip on September 19, 2025. (Jack GUEZ \/ AFP)<\/p>\n Under Trump\u2019s plan<\/a>, the PA \u2014 which Israel accuses of incitement to terrorism in its schools and through payments to terrorists \u2014 would take control of Gaza only after it \u201chas completed its reform program.\u201d Until then, the plan stipulates that the Strip will be governed by an international transitional \u201cBoard of Peace\u201d led by Trump.<\/p>\n The US president announced his plan on Monday in a joint press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who endorsed the proposal. Trump accepted Hamas\u2019s response on Friday, which said the terror group agreed to\u00a0the hostage-prisoner exchange formula set out in the plan and was willing to immediately hash out the details with mediators.<\/p>\n \t US President Donald Trump speaks upon departing a news conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in foreground, in the State Dining Room of the White House, September 29, 2025, in Washington. (AP\/Evan Vucci)<\/p>\n The formula would see Hamas release the remaining 48 hostages within 72 hours, in exchange for 250 life-term Palestinian prisoners; 1,700 Gazans detained since the October 7 massacre, which sparked the Gaza war; and the remains of 15 slain Gazans in exchange for each deceased hostage, of whom there are at least 26, according to the IDF.<\/p>\n Hamas\u2019s response said the release of the hostages would be subject to \u201cfield conditions,\u201d and has indicated that returning the buried, slain hostages within 72 hours could be difficult due to IDF presence.<\/p>\n
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