Smells like desperation spirit in Gaza. With the Qataris refusing to mediate and the Israelis bringing Gaza City down around their ears, Hamas has tried a Hail Mary -- yes, the irony is palpable -- by appealing directly to Donald Trump.
Hamas now wants Trump to "guarantee" the same 60-day ceasefire that they have demanded all along, in exchange for the same number of hostages they have offered to release all along, and to pretend that this is something different than the terms that both Trump and Israel have rejected all along:
NEW: Hamas wrote a letter to President Trump asking him to personally guarantee a 60-day pause in Gaza in exchange for immediately releasing half of the hostages, Fox News has learned from a Senior Trump administration official and a second source directly involved in the talks. pic.twitter.com/GynGHGx2xB
— Trey Yingst (@TreyYingst) September 22, 2025
By the way, Hamas hasn't yet made this a formal proposal, which is the game they have played all along:
Hamas has written a letter to US President Donald Trump requesting that he guarantee a 60-day truce in Gaza in exchange for releasing half of the hostages it is holding, Fox News reports, citing a senior Trump administration official and a source involved in the negotiations.
A source familiar with the matter confirms the report to The Times of Israel.
According to the report, the letter is currently being held by Qatar and will be given to Trump later in the week.
A source tells Channel 12 news that Hamas has not signed the letter yet, but may do so in the coming days.
The fact that Hamas hasn't made this official offers strong evidence that this is just another dance of the Hamas Hokey Pokey. They're putting this out (through the Qataris, obviously) as a way to stoke the opposition in Israel and to get Trump to commit in some way to this framework. If Trump agrees, Hamas will then claim that this doesn't represent their position and seek even more concessions. Hamas has used this strategy so often that it's quite predictable at this point.
However, with the second anniversary of the war approaching almost as fast as the IDF to Gaza City, the time for hostaging is over. Trump has made his position clear the past few weeks: If Hamas wants an end to the war, then they have to release ALL of the hostages immediately. Trump made that position publicly last week, with a warning:
"All bets are off" does not generally mean "let's make a deal." It strongly suggests that Trump got tired of the Hamas Hokey Pokey quite a while ago. Perhaps he's willing to revisit it, but Trump won't push Benjamin Netanyahu to stand down for two months while Hamas reorganizes and continues to hold Israelis hostage, alive or dead. And Netanyahu does not seem inclined to do that at the moment, either.
As for the Qataris, they're not doing anything but providing messenger services these days. They still want an apology from Netanyahu:
Arab mediators have not been substantively advancing hostage talks since Israel’s September 9 strike targeting Hamas leaders in Doha, an Arab diplomat tells The Times of Israel.
Before resuming negotiations, Qatar is seeking some sort of apology from Israel over the strike, the diplomat says, acknowledging that Jerusalem has indicated little interest in offering such a gesture.
Meanwhile, Egypt is holding off on trying to mediate independently, believing that Qatar’s role is critical and that the effort should be advanced jointly, the diplomat says.
Trump might push Netanyahu to apologize, at least to grease the wheels for more talks. His partners in the Abraham Accord didn't take too kindly to the attempt to decapitate Hamas in Doha, at least not for public consumption. Trump clearly wants to achieve a permanent resolution of the Gaza conflict as a way to stake his legacy among American presidents. That has made Trump more flexible than expected in dealing with Hamas, even allowing American negotiators to make direct contact at one point, but he learned a lesson from that, too.
These days, Trump is more likely to dismiss the Hamas Hokey Pokey out of hand:
Hamas probably recognizes this, which is why they're ramping up the psychological torture on the hostage families:
The Hamas terror group publishes footage of hostage Alon Ohel, the second since he was taken captive on October 7, 2023.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum requests that media outlets not publish the video until the family gives approval.
These videos have not worked as expected for Hamas in the last several months, at least not in loosening up Israel for terms. They have not yet realized that the rules changed on October 7, 2023, and then again on January 20, 2025. And for that matter, in June 2025, when the US took out Iran's nuclear program and essentially defenestrated its ambitions for regional dominance. Right now, the best deal they can get for the remaining hostages is safe passage for their barbaric terrorists out of Gaza. Whether they take that or not, Hamas' day is over.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s bold leadership, we are respected on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on notice.
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