Such agreements would not include Israel and would be conducted through Qatari participants, as recent talks have been, said the officers, all of whom have been briefed on the dialogues.
White House officials declined to comment.  ,
The Biden administration has said , it believes , Hamas is holding five American hostages who were abducted during the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel.  , U. S. officials , are also hoping to recover the remains of three additional U. S. citizens who are believed to have been killed on that day by Hamas, which then took their bodies into Gaza.  ,
The officials did not know what the United States might give Hamas in exchange for the , release of , American hostages. However, according to the officials, Hamas might have an incentive to strike a unilateral deal with Washington because doing so would likely strain U.S.-Israeli relations further and put additional domestic political pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.  ,
One of the former officials said the internal discussions have also taken place in the context of whether the , possibility , of the U. S. cutting a unilateral deal with Hamas might pressure , Netanyahu , to agree to a version of the current cease- fire proposal.
The family members of hostages are already putting pressure on the Israeli leader  to reach an agreement that would free their loved ones. According to Israeli officials earlier this week, about 120 hostages are still being held by Hamas and that 43 of them have perished while being held captive.  ,
The five Americans believed to be held in Gaza are Edan Alexander, Sagui Dekel- Chen, Hersh Goldberg- Polin, Omer Neutra and Keith Siegel. Itay Chen, Judy Weinstein, and Gad Haggai are the three Americans whose deaths are alleged to have occurred on October 7 in the Hamas terrorist attack.
The parents of Goldberg- Polin issued a statement saying they were in favor of such discussions after the publication of this story.
According to reports, the US administration is reportedly negotiating with Hamas to release US citizens from captivity in Gaza, according to Rachel Goldberg-Pollini and Jon Polin. We welcome any negotiations that will result in our loved ones who have been imprisoned for more than 8 months returning home. We pray that hostage-free families will soon be reunited with their loved ones.
The Israeli Defense Forces carried out an operation over the weekend to rescue four Israeli hostages who had been abducted from the Nova music festival.  , Gaza’s Health Ministry said that at least 274 Palestinians, including dozens of children, were killed during the Israeli raid.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to visit the area on Monday to talk about the most recent efforts to reach a cease-fire agreement. A senior administration official told NBC News that Blinken’s efforts to reach an agreement and release the hostages that are still at risk will likely be made even more difficult as a result of the Israeli raid on Saturday to free the four hostages.  ,
The senior administration official said that releasing the Israeli hostages has only strengthened Netanyahu’s resolve to carry on with military operations in Gaza rather than putting a stop to the fighting.  ,
In some past efforts to free wrongfully detained Americans overseas, the U. S. has conducted prisoner swaps. If there are prisoners in American custody, Hamas would want their release and the Biden administration would consider willing to let them go based on their criminal convictions.  ,
However, the current senior U.S. official said that if the Biden administration’s proposed cease-fire agreement fails, there will still be a “very real option.”
White House national security adviser , Jake Sullivan said Sunday , that the U. S. is still waiting on an “official” response from Hamas to the latest offer. White House Middle East coordinator Brett McGurk and CIA Director William Burns both traveled to the area last week to continue discussions on the proposal.  ,
Andrea Mitchell contributed.
