Israel’s Netanyahu offers Hamas leaders Gaza exit but demands the militant group disarm

Benjamin Netanyahu has offered Hamas leaders the option to leave Gaza if they meet a specific demand, amid reports the terror group is targeting Palestinians who protest against them.

Benjamin Netanyahu has offered to let the leaders of Hamas leave the Gaza Strip but demanded the group abandon its arms, as his army keeps up its bombardment of the Palestinian territory.

It comes as Hamas began a brutal crackdown on Palestinians who protested against the group last week, executing at least six and publicly beating others, according to Israeli media.

Mr Netanyahu rejected criticism that his government was not engaging in negotiations aimed at releasing hostages held in Gaza, insisting that the renewed military pressure on Hamas was proving effective.

“We are negotiating under fire... We can see cracks beginning to appear” in Hamas’s positions, the Israeli leader told a cabinet meeting.

In the “final stage”, Mr Netanyahu said that “Hamas will lay down its weapons. Its leaders will be allowed to leave”.

“The military pressure is working,” he said.

Palestinian girls sit outside their makeshift tent during Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Gaza City. Picture: AFP

“The combination of military pressure and diplomatic pressure is the only thing that has brought the hostages back.”

Hamas has expressed a willingness to relinquish Gaza’s administration, but has warned its weapons are a “red line”.

Egypt, Qatar and the United States are attempting to again broker a ceasefire and secure the release of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza.

A senior Hamas official stated that the group had approved a new ceasefire proposal put forward by mediators and urged Israel to support it.

Mr Netanyahu’s office confirmed receipt of the proposal and stated that Israel had submitted a counterproposal in response.

People raise placards bearing pictures of slain Palestinian Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, as they take part in a rally marking the annual Quds Day (Jerusalem day) commemorations in Rabat. Picture: AFP

However, the details of the latest mediation efforts remain undisclosed.

Mr Netanyahu said Israel was working towards a plan proposed by US President Donald Trump to displace Gazans to other countries.

The premier said that after the war, Israel would ensure overall security in Gaza and “enable the implementation of the Trump plan” - which had initially called for the mass displacement of all 2.4 million people living in the Palestinian territory - calling it a “voluntary migration plan”.

Mr Trump proposed that Gazans be removed from the territory that would then be owned by the United States and redeveloped, with no right of return for the Palestinians.

He later said he was “not forcing” the widely condemned plan but would “sit back and recommend it”.

Palestinian girls play as they celebrate Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Gaza City on March 30, 2025. Picture: AFP

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GAZA PROTESTERS EXECUTED

Hamas has begun a brutal crackdown on Palestinians who protested against the group last week, executing at least six and publicly beating others, according to Israeli media.

One of those murdered was Odai al-Rubai, 22, who was beaten and tortured before he was dumped, dying, on his family’s doorstep.

“He was dragged by a rope around his neck, beaten with clubs and metal rods in front of passersby,” a resident of Gaza City told Israel’s Ynet TV.

Another resident posted on X that as they dumped his body, militants told Mr Rubai’s family: “This is the punishment for those who bad mouth Hamas.”

Ynet also reported that another protester, Hussam al-Majdalawi, was kidnapped, shot in the legs and left in a public square in the Nuseirat refugee camp.

The family of 22-year-old Odai Nasser Saadi Al-Rubai, who was kidnapped, tortured, and murdered by Hamas militias, opened fire during his funeral and vowed to avenge his death.

Mourners turned the funeral into a protest against Hamas, chanting: "Hamas out, out!" pic.twitter.com/snKhFh6ZVH

— Ihab Hassan (@IhabHassane) March 29, 2025

15 BODIES FOUND AFTER ISRAEL FIRED ON AMBULANCES

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said it had recovered the bodies of 15 rescuers who had been missing since Israeli troops fired at ambulances in the southern city of Rafah a week ago.

The Red Crescent said the bodies were found buried in the sand. It accused Israel of committing a “war crime” by targeting ambulances.

The body of one of the Palestinian first responders who were killed by Israel. Picture: AFP

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said it was “outraged” by the incident.

“They were humanitarians. They wore emblems that should have protected them,” said the federation’s Secretary-General Jagan Chapagain.

STRIKES CONTINUE IN GAZA; CHILDREN KILLED

Gaza medics and witnesses reported that Israeli air strikes continued in Khan Yunis and some other parts of Gaza throughout the day.

An air strike in the southern city of Rafah wounded two children, according to medics.

On Sunday morning, an Israeli air strike that hit a house and a tent sheltering displaced Palestinians killed at least eight people, including five children, the Gaza civil defence agency said.

Tents housing displaced Palestinians during Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Gaza City on March 30, 2025. Picture: AFP

The strike in Khan Yunis came on the first day of Eid al-Fitr, the festival marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Israel resumed large-scale bombing in the Palestinian territory on March 18 and then launched a new ground offensive, ending a nearly two-month ceasefire in the war with Hamas.

Since the fighting restarted, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said that at least 921 people have been killed.

The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israel’s retaliatory military campaign against has killed at least 50,277 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to the territory’s health ministry.

THOUSANDS PROTEST IN TEL AVIV

Thousands of Israelis protested in the country’s commercial hub Tel Aviv, calling on the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire deal.

Some former hostages, relatives, and family members of captives held in Gaza addressed the rally.

Protesters hold photos of hostages held in the Gaza Strip during a demonstration demanding the release of all hostages in Tel Aviv. Picture: Getty Images

“Soon, Israel will celebrate Passover ... I wish for us to be able to hold the seder night with the hostages, who must return so that we can truly celebrate a real festival,” said former hostage Yair Horn, whose brother Eitan is held in Gaza.

The families of hostages take to the streets of Tel Aviv. Picture: Getty Images

“Prime Minister ... let’s reach a deal without fighting.” The week-long Jewish festival to be celebrated in April, also known in Hebrew as the “holiday of freedom”, is traditionally observed with a seder: a holiday feast when families eat symbolic food and read the Haggadah.

Israelis have also stepped up protests in recent days against parliament’s approval of a law expanding the power of politicians over the appointment of judges.

The law is part of Netanyahu government’s overall judicial reforms package that sparked one of the largest protest movements in Israel’s history in 2023 before being overtaken by the war in Gaza

HEZBOLLAH LEADER SLAMS ISRAELI ATTACKS

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said that he could not accept continued Israeli attacks on Lebanon, a day after its first strike on Beirut since a November ceasefire.

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli strike in southern Beirut on March 28, 2025. Picture: AFP

“If Israel believes it can impose a new equation by using false pretexts... to attack the south, the Bekaa and the southern suburbs of Beirut, this is unacceptable.” The Beirut strike came after rockets were fired from Lebanon towards Israel on Friday, testing the fragile ceasefire.

People inspect the site of an Israeli strike in southern Beirut on March 28, 2025. Picture: AFP

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz swiftly hit back, threatening fresh attacks on the Lebanese capital to punish rocket fire on northern Israel, regardless of the perpetrator.

“If there is no calm in Kiryat Shmona and communities in Galilee (northern Israel), there will be no calm in Beirut,” he said.

Originally published as Israel’s Netanyahu offers Hamas leaders Gaza exit but demands the militant group disarm