EXCLUSIVE: Internal Documents Detail Hamas Proposals That Preceded Trump’s Belligerent Rant
Trump and Netanyahu threatened to launch even more violent “alternatives” to ceasefire negotiations as Hamas political leader blasts U.S.-Israeli “blackmail."
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Hamas’s top political leader Khalil Al-Hayya delivered a blistering speech Sunday night, accusing the U.S. and Israel of plotting to sabotage yet another potential ceasefire agreement to end the Gaza war. “We state clearly: There is no point in continuing negotiations under the siege, genocide, and starvation of our children, women, and people in the Gaza Strip,” Al-Hayya said. “We will not accept that our people, their suffering, and the blood of its children be sacrificed for the occupation's negotiating tricks and the achievement of its political goals.”
Al-Hayya, who has led Hamas’s negotiating team since Israel’s assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Hanniyeh last summer in Tehran, accused Israel and the U.S. of “blackmail,” and charged that Israel was using “negotiations as a cover and tool for starvation.” He added, “The immediate and dignified entry of food and medicine to our people is a serious and genuine _expression_ of the viability of continuing negotiations.”
This round of negotiations has taken place as Israel has relentlessly bombed Gaza and forced masses of Palestinians into small patches of land against the sea abutting the western coast of the enclave. It has also forbidden Palestinians from entering their own water under threat of being killed.
Israel’s forced starvation campaign has reached lethal levels. While Israel and the U.S. have concocted new schemes to pretend significant aid is entering Gaza, or to blame the UN for Israel’s deliberate denial of food and medicine to the Strip, the reality is that short of an industrial scale aid distribution run by the UN, many more Palestinians are at imminent risk of death by famine. “The real step is opening the crossings and allowing the entry of aid in a dignified manner for our people—something that is guaranteed by international law, even in times of war,” Al-Hayya said.
Al-Hayya’s speech marked the end of a week that saw both the U.S. and Israel announce they were withdrawing their negotiators from Doha, Qatar, and which featured President Donald Trump unleashing a threat-laden rant that appeared to encourage Israel to further intensify its war in the Gaza Strip.
Last Wednesday, after consulting with a range of Palestinian political leaders and groups as well as regional mediators from Qatar and Egypt, negotiators from Hamas submitted a handful of precisely-crafted amendments to the latest Gaza ceasefire framework. Hamas had already agreed to the vast majority of the thirteen-point framework and had been informed by mediators that Israel had done the same.
Drop Site News obtained a series of documents from the negotiations in Doha showing the terms Hamas proposed to amend, as well as the maps for Israeli troop redeployments presented to Hamas by regional mediators alongside the maps counter-proposed by Hamas.
“We were faced with two options: either agree to a weak, rushed agreement—where Israel could control the aid, impose wide buffer zones covering 40–50% of Gaza, ensure the possibility of resuming war, and add many other unjust conditions—or hold out for a good agreement,” said Ghazi Hamad, a senior Hamas leader and a member of its negotiating team, in a TV interview Saturday with Al Araby. “We chose to be patient and stand firm so we could reach a good deal.”
Hamas officials said they were bewildered at the public response from the Trump administration. On Friday, Trump launched into a belligerent tirade on the White House lawn as he prepared to embark on a trip to Europe. “Hamas didn’t really want to make a deal. I think they want to die, and it’s very, very bad. It got to be to a point where you’re going to have to finish the job,” Trump declared. “Now we’re down to the final hostages and they know what happens after you get the final hostages and basically because of that they really didn’t want to make a deal. I saw that. They’re gonna have to fight, and they’re gonna have to clean it up. You’re gonna have to get rid of ‘em.” Addressing Hamas’s leadership, Trump said, "I think they will be hunted down."
Hamas officials said they were surprised by Trump’s comments and those of Special Envoy Steve Witkoff. “What Hamas presented—both in word and deed—represented a positive, realistic, and flexible position. We offered a vision for all the issues on the table, whether related to maps, prisoner exchange mechanisms, aid, or guarantees for continuing negotiations beyond the 60-day period,” said Hamad. “That’s why the American position was surprising; it was tense and rigid, offering no explanations. Instead, it relied on the language of threats and intimidation.”
Basem Naim, another senior Hamas official, told Drop Site, “Trump is playing a strategic game of deception,” adding that the U.S. and Israel were seeking to increase pressure on Hamas to capitulate. He said Trump’s comments, and similar ones made by Witkoff, were intended to apply “more pressure before the next round” of negotiations and to buy time for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “to reorganize the internal situation.”
Some analysts have suggested that if Netanyahu had signed a deal prior to the recession of the Israeli Knesset on July 27, he would have contended with the possible collapse of his governing coalition, so Netanyahu has, instead, delayed signing the deal. The Knesset is not scheduled to reconvene until October.
Over the past three weeks, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators had been wrangling over three primary issues in the proximity talks with regional mediators: how much aid would enter Gaza and who would distribute it; where Israeli forces would withdraw to during the ceasefire, and the size of a mutually-agreed buffer zone encircling Gaza; and how many Palestinian captives would be freed in exchange for 10 living and 18 deceased Israelis held in Gaza.
“Negotiations, in my view, were no less important, serious, or dangerous than the battlefield itself,” said Hamad. “What the occupation failed to achieve through military force, killing, criminality, and starvation, it tried to impose through negotiations—trying to force realities and facts on Hamas that we could never accept.”
Prior to formally submitting its amendments for response from the U.S. and Israel, Hamas negotiators spent days going through their proposals with Qatari and Egyptian mediators. “We achieved clear progress and reached broad agreement with what the mediators presented, especially regarding withdrawal, prisoners, and the entry of aid,” said Al-Hayya. “The mediators conveyed positive responses from the Zionist occupation. However, we were surprised when the occupation withdrew from the negotiations” in response to Hamas’s amendments.
The Gaza ceasefire negotiations are once again at a crucial crossroads. After pulling out their negotiators, Netanyahu, Trump, Witkoff, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio all said they would pursue “alternative options” to recover Israeli captives—outside a negotiated deal. On Friday, Netanyahu convened with cabinet members and top security officials to discuss "occupying additional territories,” a "siege on Gaza City” and US-assisted “pressure” on Hamas leaders abroad. Some Israeli journalists have suggested this could come in the form of more assassinations of Hamas political leaders abroad or demands they be expelled from Qatar or other nations.
There is a real possibility that Israel intends to dramatically escalate its military assault on Gaza, backed by the threats issued by Trump. “Israel is gonna have to make a decision. I know what I'd do but I don't think it's appropriate that I say it,” Trump said Sunday without expanding.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham predicted that Israel would dispense with negotiations and ratchet up its military assault on Gaza. “There’s no way you’re going to negotiate an end of this war with Hamas,” he said. Israel is “going to do in Gaza what we did in Tokyo and Berlin—take the place by force, then start over again, presenting a better future for the Palestinians.”
It is also plausible that these threats are, as Hamas officials have suggested, an attempt to back Hamas into a corner by using the starving and besieged population of Gaza as collateral. On July 25, Egypt and Qatar issued a joint statement saying that the “suspension of the negotiations to hold consultations before resuming the dialogue again is a natural matter in the context of these complex negotiations.” They added that, along with the U.S., Qatar and Egypt “affirm their commitment to completing efforts to reach a comprehensive ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip.”
In an interview with Trump’s daughter in law, Lara Trump, on FOX News on Saturday, Witkoff appeared to express optimism that a Gaza agreement remained possible. A deal with “Hamas, which has lingered just a drop, is now coming together,” he said.
“I believe no one wants the talks to collapse, because I think everyone understands that reaching an agreement at this stage is critical — there is no alternative but to reach a deal to end this horrific war,” said Hamad, the member of the Hamas negotiating team. “There is significant effort being made by all parties, but ultimately this depends on Israel — either it decides to come to the table seriously and reach an agreement, or it chooses to stall and buy time, dragging out the process without any real intention to conclude.”
Below is an overview of the last round of amendments proposed by Hamas.
Hamas’s Proposal for Humanitarian Aid to Gaza
Hamas wants the United Nations to be in charge of the distribution of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, while the Israeli-endorsed framework only states that the UN will participate in distribution. Prior to March 2, aid was distributed through 400 non-militarized points throughout Gaza in a system overseen by the UN.
In an amendment, Hamas proposed the complete abolishment of the U.S.-Israeli aid scheme known as the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed attempting to collect meager rations at its sites in Gaza. “The centers established by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, which were used by the GHF, will be dismantled,” Hamas negotiators wrote. “Aid will be distributed in the Gaza Strip through the United Nations, its agencies, and the Palestinian Red Crescent, in addition to institutions operating in the Gaza Strip prior to March 2, 2025.” The GHF began its operations in late May.
Hamas also reiterated its position, which Israel continues to oppose, that the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt be re-opened “in both directions for travelers and trade.”
Rafah is the only access Palestinians in Gaza have to a world beyond Israeli control. Israel invaded and occupied Rafah in May 2024 and shut the Rafah crossing down. It was briefly reopened in a limited capacity for some wounded and sick people to leave Gaza during the January ceasefire, but was again closed after Israel resumed its genocidal assault on Gaza on March 18.
Hamas’s proposal on Israeli Withdrawal
During the recent negotiations, Hamas and Israeli negotiators agreed that Israeli forces would reposition or withdraw to positions on the periphery of Gaza. Both sides’ proposals referenced the maps negotiated in the original January 19 ceasefire agreement, but the latest Israeli-endorsed framework, dated June 30, employed vague language and said its troop positions would be “close” to the original agreement and added that the positions of its troops would be “based on [new] maps to be agreed upon.”
In its counter-proposal, submitted on July 4, Hamas said it wanted Israeli forces to be repositioned to where they “were deployed according to the maps of the January 19, 2025 agreement, with minor adjustments to be agreed upon.”
On July 6, indirect negotiations began in Doha between Israel and Hamas with Qatar and Egypt serving as mediators and a U.S. delegation in Qatar to consult with Israel and the mediators.
Hamas officials say they repeatedly asked for Israel and the mediators to propose specific maps outlining where Israeli forces would reposition during the ceasefire. Throughout the next two weeks, Israeli officials publicly outlined their intent to build a concentration camp in southern Gaza and to occupy huge swaths of the strip. Israel’s defense minister said an initial 600,000 Palestinians would be corralled into what he cynically called a “humanitarian city” built on the rubble of Rafah where they would await deportation or “voluntary migration.”
Hamas made clear it would not accept this and the Trump administration swiftly pressed Israel to scale back its proposed occupation zones.
A Hamas official told Drop Site that on July 14, Israel proposed the creation of an Israeli-controlled buffer zone encircling Gaza that would extend two kilometers (1.25 miles) into Gaza in the north and east of the enclave, as well as a four kilometer (2.5 mile) zone cutting through southern Gaza. The proposal, if enacted, would still have resulted in Israel occupying some 40% of Gaza. Netanyahu has insisted that Israeli forces would not pull out from the Philadelphi corridor along the Egyptian border
On July 17, after consultations between Israel, the U.S. and Arab mediators, Hamas was provided with another round of revised maps outlining positions that Israeli forces would withdraw to as part of a 60-day ceasefire agreement. The positions were still deeper into Gaza than the original January maps, but it was a step in the right direction from Hamas’s perspective. “We fought fiercely, firmly, and steadfastly to stop Israel’s encroachment and its attempt to impose wide buffer zones in Gaza,” said Hamad in his Al Araby interview. “Thanks to God, we were able to push them back and put forward an acceptable and sound vision that can be worked with in this agreement.”
In its amendment, Hamas proposed minor adjustments—in most cases 100 to 200 meters less than Israel proposed. Hamas also laid out a plan for the total withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Philadelphi corridor. During an initial 60-day truce, Hamas proposed, “The occupation will gradually withdraw at a rate of 50 meters per week from the Philadelphi corridor, and on the 50th day, it will withdraw from the entire Philadelphi corridor.”
Hamad said the mediators from Qatar and Egypt told Hamas that its proposed maps were a reasonable position. “We were able to present a vision that was accepted by the mediators—a vision that, God willing, will be the one moving forward,” he said. “The areas and distances presented in the redeployment maps so far are good and reasonable. They could be the foundation for a fair and just agreement for our Palestinian people.”
Hamas’s Proposal for Freeing Palestinians Held Captive by Israel
Both Israel and Hamas have agreed that ten living and 18 deceased Israeli captives will be released during the initial two-month ceasefire. Eight living Israelis would be freed on the first day of a deal and the remaining two on Day 50. The bodies of the deceased would be released in stages spanning the agreement. There are believed to be a total of 20 living Israelis held captive in Gaza, along with the bodies of 36 deceased.
In the framework presented to Hamas, the number of Palestinians who would be freed in exchange for the Israelis was never spelled out. “Israel will release an agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners,” the document stated.
As Hamas viewed the ceasefire process nearing an agreement, it wanted to resolve the issue. There are more than 10,000 Palestinians currently held in Israeli prisons and detention centers, and they are often subjected to torture and extrajudicial killing. There are also more than 2,000 Palestinians from Gaza who were snatched by Israel for the explicit purpose of exchanging them. Regional mediators told Hamas that Israel would release a total of 125 Palestinians serving life sentences and 1,111 Palestinians “who were detained from the Gaza Strip since October 8.” This would presumably mean that Palestinians taken captive by Israel on October 7 would not be part of the deal.
“We are determined to secure the release of the largest possible number of prisoners, especially those from Gaza, and particularly those involved in the events of October 7: those who fought, struggled, and sacrificed their lives,” said Hamad in his Al Araby interview. “This matter was brought to the negotiation table, and we proposed reasonable and meaningful numbers. And, God willing, we hope to succeed in securing the release of the largest number possible, whether they are serving life sentences, other terms, or still awaiting sentencing in this phase.”
In its amendment, Hamas proposed that in exchange for the ten living Israeli captives 200 Palestinians serving life sentences and 2,000 Palestinians snatched from Gaza be freed. Hamas wanted to designate which Palestinians would be freed in the deal. In exchange for the 18 deceased Israelis held in Gaza, Hamas proposed: “In exchange for each body, 10 Palestinian bodies, in addition to 50 prisoners from Gaza after October 7, as well as women and children under the age of 18, to be designated by Hamas.”
Herman Gill contributed to this report.