US finalising 'take it or leave it' deal for Israel-Hamas war

The United States may soon put forward a "take it or leave it" deal in front of Hamas and Israel. This comes after Israel on Sunday (Sep 1) discovered the bodies of six, including Israeli American Hersh Goldberg-Polin taken hostage by Hamas on Oct 7.

As per a Washington Post report citing a senior US administration official, the US, along with Egypt and Qatar, has been discussing a deal, the failure of which could see America exit the negotiations.

The "take it or leave it" deal is set to be presented in the next few weeks.

"You can't keep negotiating this. This process has to be called at some point," said the official.

How will the discovery ofhostage remains impact the negotiations?

According to the official, the discovery of the hostage remains adds "urgency" to the deal.

"Does it derail the deal? No. If anything, it should add additional urgency in this closing phase, which we were already in," said the US official.

Last week's negotiations, as perreports, were primarily focused on which hostages would be freed in exchange for specific Palestinian prisoners held in Israel. Three of the six hostages —Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Carmel Gat and Eden Yerushalmi — whose remains were found on Sunday were part of the list of people set to be released.

With this, as per the Washington Post, the negotiations have now taken on added complexity and the exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners would now need to be renegotiated.

TheIsrael Defense Forces and the US alleged thatthe six hostages were killed "execution style"by their Hamascaptors "shortly before" they were discovered. This execution, as per a senior US administration official, "calls into question" the militant group's seriousness in the talks. According to the official, Hamas has remained stubborn during various parts of the negotiations, despite Israeli officials making concessions.

(With inputs from agencies)