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Fact check: Did gershon baskin get a peace offer from Hamas that included Hamas not running the Gaza government anymore and the Israeli government turned it down?
Executive Summary
Gershon Baskin publicly stated that Hamas agreed to a deal in September 2024 that would have included relinquishing governance of Gaza, releasing hostages, and ending the war, and that both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and U.S. officials including President Biden rejected that proposal [1] [2]. Independent public documentation of a formal offer with those exact terms and an official Israeli refusal is limited in the contemporary record; reporting confirms Baskin’s account and repetition of the claim, while other contemporaneous sources note prior Hamas ceasefire and truce offers but do not fully corroborate a concrete, government-level rejection of the precise package Baskin describes [3] [4].
1. What Baskin Actually Claimed — A Deal That Sounds Like a Trade, According to an Israeli Negotiator
Gershon Baskin is quoted asserting that Hamas accepted terms more than a year before that paralleled later ceasefire proposals, notably agreeing not to govern Gaza as part of a deal that would free hostages and end active hostilities, and that Israeli and U.S. leaders declined it, according to his recounting to journalists and commentators in October 2025 [1]. Baskin frames this as an operational negotiating fact — he says Hamas was prepared to cede administrative control in Gaza, facilitate hostage releases, and stop fighting — and that members of the U.S. negotiating team privately expressed frustration in October 2024 at their inability to persuade Washington to pursue that pathway [1] [2]. The claim is specific about timing (September 2024) and attributes rejections to Netanyahu and Biden [1].
2. How the Claim Appears in Contemporary Reporting — Corroboration and Repetition
Multiple outlets have repeated Baskin’s assertion that Hamas had agreed to similar terms earlier and that Israeli and U.S. officials rejected them, with reporting in October 2025 relaying his account and discussions among negotiators [1] [2]. These pieces present Baskin as a first-person source; they recount his meetings and characterizations of U.S. negotiating team frustrations but stop short of producing documentary evidence such as a signed protocol, written offer, or an official Israeli rejection notice in the public domain [1] [2]. The reporting therefore provides journalistic amplification of Baskin’s version while not independently verifying every element of the asserted package or the formal stance of the Israeli government at the time [1].
3. Historical Patterns — Hamas Has Made Truce Offers Before, But Terms Vary
Contextual reporting from earlier years shows Hamas has made various ceasefire and truce proposals in the past, including offers of long truces tied to Israeli withdrawal, yet those offers have differed from the specific package Baskin describes and historically drew mixed responses from Israel and international actors [4] [5]. Analysts note a pattern in which Hamas offers sometimes conditionally pause hostilities in exchange for political or territorial concessions, and Israeli political calculus about accepting any such deal has been shaped by security concerns and domestic politics. The older reports underscore that while ceasefire overtures are not unprecedented, the precise combination of Hamas relinquishing governance and immediate hostages-for-withdrawal swaps as a formal, government-level offer is not identically mirrored in the earlier record [4] [5].
4. What Is Missing — Documentary Proof and Official Acknowledgement
Despite Baskin’s clear public claim, open-source verification of a written proposal or formal Israeli government rejection is absent from the cited reporting, which relies on his testimony and reporting of interlocutor frustration [1] [2]. Other contemporaneous coverage referenced by analysts notes Hamas’ earlier ceasefire proposals but does not confirm that Israeli leaders issued a formal “no” to a package that included handing over governance of Gaza [3] [6]. That gap matters: political negotiators and back-channel intermediaries sometimes discuss frameworks that never formalize; without a documented offer and an explicit governmental response, the claim rests largely on Baskin’s insider account and corroborating journalistic repetition rather than archival evidence [1] [3].
5. Takeaways — Multiple Plausible Readings and Outstanding Questions
The strongest factual finding is that an experienced Israeli negotiator publicly said Hamas offered terms in late 2024 that included relinquishing governance and that Israeli and U.S. leaders rejected it, and that several outlets reported this claim in October 2025 [1] [2]. The critical open question remains whether that narrative reflects a formal, tabled offer and an official Israeli governmental rejection, or whether it describes back-channel discussions and conditional frameworks that were never elevated to a signed proposal; available public sources cited here do not supply documentary confirmation [1] [3] [4]. Further clarity would require release of negotiating records, statements from Israeli or U.S. officials acknowledging the specific offer, or independent diplomatic confirmations.