Hamas Agrees to Release All Hostages but Pushes for Talks on Other Issues

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Oct. 3, 2025, 4:30 p.m. ETJust Now

Live Updates: Hamas Agrees to Release All Hostages but Pushes for Talks on Other Issues

The militant group responded to a proposal by President Trump to end the nearly two-year-old war in Gaza. It was not clear if its conditions would satisfy the White House or Israel.

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Credit...Amit Elkayam for The New York Times

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Oct. 3, 2025, 4:16 p.m. ET14 minutes ago

Liam Stack

Reporting from Tel Aviv

Here’s the latest.

Hamas said on Friday night that it had agreed to release all of the Israeli hostages held in Gaza as well as the bodies of those who had died, in response to the peace proposal introduced by President Trump earlier this week. 

In a statement posted online on Friday night, the armed group said it would release the hostages “according to the exchange formula contained in President Trump’s proposal, and as the field conditions for the exchange are met.”

“In this context, the movement affirms its readiness to immediately enter into negotiations through the mediators to discuss these details,” the group added.

The statement also said the group agreed “to hand over the administration of the Gaza Strip to a Palestinian body of independent technocrats, based on Palestinian national consensus and Arab and Islamic support.” 

But it was not clear from that language if Hamas had agreed to a stipulation in the proposal that called for the group to be barred from exercising political power in Gaza in the future, or if it saw a place for itself or its members among that body of technocrats. 

The question is whether Hamas’s response will satisfy Israel and the White House. The statement, for example, did not address key elements of the American proposal that called on the group to give up its arms, which has been a major demand of Israel.

Hamas also did not address the offer of amnesty to its members who commit to coexistence. 

The war in Gaza began after the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, in which roughly 1,200 people were killed and 250 more taken hostage. 

Since then, the Israeli military response has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, including both civilians and combatants, according to the Gaza health ministry, and destroyed the territory’s infrastructure. 

This is a developing story.

Oct. 3, 2025, 4:30 p.m. ETJust Now

Katie Rogers

On Friday evening, hours after President Trump issued a Sunday evening deadline for Hamas to agree to his peace plan, the White House did not have an immediate comment on the statement released by the Palestinian group. This suggests American officials are closely reviewing what’s in it.

Oct. 3, 2025, 4:21 p.m. ET9 minutes ago

Pranav Baskar

Pushpa Joshi, 18, the sister of Bipin Joshi, a Nepali foreign student who has been held hostage by Hamas since Oct. 7, 2023, said the announcement the group was willing to release the hostages had filled her with hope. “I thank God, and I’m so happy,” she said. “I really hope that the Israeli government will also approve it, and finally I will be able to see my brother.” She said she also was “really hopeful that President Donald Trump will accept it and bring all the hostages back as soon as possible.”

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