Retired Major General Nitzan Alon, Israel's former point person for hostage negotiations, said a deal to return all captives could have been reached about a year earlier than October 2025. He called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's "total victory" stance false and said the war was unnecessarily prolonged. Qatar's PM said Israel rejected an early Hamas ceasefire proposal.
Ex-Israeli negotiator says Gaza hostage deal was delayed a year
Source: Al Jazeera