The Times: The Gaza agreement was ready a year ago!

Independent Israeli negotiator Gershon Baskin revealed that the agreement announced Thursday between Israel and Hamas to end the war in Gaza had been proposed in the same form for more than a year.

The Times, quoted Baskin as saying that Hamas had agreed to the same terms in September 2024, during the final months of former US President Joe Biden’s administration, in what was then called the three-week agreement.

However, US officials ignored the offer at the time, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—who is wanted by the International Criminal Court—categorically rejected it, according to the newspaper’s news report.

Baskin, who is considered the architect of the negotiations that led to the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011, wrote in an article revealing his role in those negotiations that he received a written and audio copy in Arabic and English of the draft agreement.

He said that Israeli negotiators informed him at the time that “Netanyahu doesn’t agree to end the war”.

He added that he was able to get his plan to Biden’s desk, but did not get the chance to present it to the chief US negotiator, Brett McGurk, who “refused to deviate from the bad deal he was negotiating,” he said.

Baskin noted that members of the US negotiating delegation “were as frustrated as I was at their inability to convince Biden and his advisors” to seriously consider the offer.

The Times reported that Baskin met in late 2024 with then-Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, who asked him “not to use back channels because a ceasefire agreement would be reached within three weeks”—that is, when Trump took office—making the negotiator realize that the war wouldn’t end until Trump decided it was time to end it.

Accordingly, according to the British newspaper, Baskin opened an informal channel of communication with Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, explaining that “it’s not necessary to conduct negotiations directly with the Israeli side, as Israel will abide by whatever conditions Trump imposes”.

His efforts resulted in a ceasefire on January 19, allowing Trump to boast that he had restored peace to the Middle East a day before he officially took office, according to the Times report.

The Times newspaper revealed that the agreement proposed in 2024 included three phases, beginning with the release of 33 Israeli detainees in exchange for 1,900 Palestinian prisoners, a partial Israeli withdrawal from populated areas in Gaza, and the flow of humanitarian aid.

The stages will culminate in the establishment of a permanent ceasefire, the release of more prisoners and detainees, the completion of Israel’s withdrawal, and the commencement of reconstruction.

However, that agreement collapsed after Israel refused to move to the second phase.

After months of mutual accusations and widespread famine in Gaza, the same agreement was relaunched in September 2025.

According to the British newspaper, Baskin confirmed that Trump revived the agreement by pressuring Netanyahu to complete it within a 20-point plan, the latest negotiations of which were mediated by Qatar, Türkiye, and Egypt.

As the two sides signed the anticipated agreement in Egypt, Baskin wrote: “Now we must wait for its full implementation… and now we can start breathing again”.