Report: Israel offers amnesty to 200 trapped Hamas terrorists in exchange for exile

As Kushner presses Netanyahu to allow hundreds of Hamas terrorists holed up in Rafah tunnel to leave the area unharmed, Israel reportedly offers compromise, granting safe passage if they promise not to return to terror.

By World Israel News Staff

Israel has reportedly offered to grant conditional free passage to hundreds of Hamas terrorists trapped in a tunnel network under the city of Rafah, as the Trump administration pressures Jerusalem to give the gunmen an opportunity to disarm and safely leave the area.

On Tuesday evening, Channel 12 reported that Israel has proposed that the approximately 200 Hamas terrorists holed up in underground infrastructure in Rafah’s al-Jneina neighborhood be allowed to safely withdraw from Israeli-controlled territory if they surrender their weapons and commit to abandoning terrorism.

A member of Israel’s Security Cabinet told Yedioth Aharonoth that the Israeli plan also calls for the 200 Hamas terrorists to be forced into exile, in exchange for amnesty.

The exiled terrorists would be permitted to return to Gaza at some point years in the future, the report said.

President Trump’s son-in-law and confidant Jared Kushner reportedly reached an agreement with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the plan. However, according to the report, no third-party countries have yet been found to host the terrorists in exile.

An Israeli official who spoke with multiple Israeli media outlets Tuesday night contradicted claims of an agreement between Israel and the Trump administration, saying that “there is no agreed-upon solution regarding the terrorists in Rafah.”

Under pressure from its Arab and Muslim allies, the Trump White House has pressed Israel not to eliminate the terrorists in al-Jneina, arguing that the killing of the terrorists could lead to the collapse of the already shaky ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Turkey has reportedly taken a major role in lobbying for a deal securing the safe passage of the terrorists out of al-Jneina, amid claims that Ankara managed to convince Hamas to return the body of slain IDF soldier Hadar Goldin with the promise that the trapped terrorists would not be harmed.

Hamas on Sunday appeared to question the possibility of a peaceful withdrawal of the terrorists, saying its fighters would not surrender.

“The occupation bears full responsibility for the clashes with our fighters in Rafah, who are defending themselves within an area under its control. Let the enemy know that the principle of surrender and submission to the enemy does not exist in the Qassam Brigades’ lexicon.”