The second half of the Haaretz investigation published Sept. 8 by Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval —and reported on by EIR yesterday—reports that an offer to return all civilian hostages reached Israel through two separate channels within a day of the Oct. 7, 2023 attack, and that neither was taken up.

At 7 p.m. on Oct. 7, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani telephoned Mossad Director David Barnea, who had been in Doha a week earlier, sent by Netanyahu to ask Qatar to increase aid to Gaza. Al-Thani said he had just threatened Ismail Haniyeh and Khalil al-Hayya with expulsion from Qatar, and that “Hamas is ready to release all civilians now, and we are prepared to mediate.” Barnea replied: “If they want to release the civilians, let them release them. We are not prepared to speak with Hamas.”

Barnea’s associates say Hamas attached unacceptable conditions—halting the IDF incursion, and worship rights at the Temple Mount. Qatar denies it: “On the first day, Hamas leaders did not set any draconian conditions,” al-Thani’s adviser told the paper.

A second channel opened independently the next morning. Sinwar’s right-hand man telephoned an associate of Mohammed Dahlan, the former Palestinian Authority security chief in Gaza who now lives in exile in the UAE, and said Sinwar himself was listening in. Told that the civilians would have to come out first, he asked for 24 hours and called back within one. “They had no problem releasing all civilians without anything in return,” the intermediary said. “I swear, those were his exact words.” Their single condition was an agreed mediator. Sinwar counted as civilians only those under 18 and over 50. Dahlan passed the offer to the Shin Bet; the unofficial answer that came back was that “Netanyahu doesn’t want to talk about anything. He only wants war and the elimination of Hamas.”

A senior defense official acknowledges the proposals reached the Mossad, the Shin Bet and the prime minister: “The release of the hostages did not even enter the list of war objectives formulated by the government on the night of October 7.” Could it have been discussed and decided? “In substantive terms, the answer is yes.”