Scoop: U.S. offered Hamas militants safe passage out of Israel-controlled Gaza zone

The U.S. offered Hamas militants safe passage from areas in Gaza controlled by Israel to parts the group controls, U.S. and Israeli officials tell Axios. Why it matters: The goal of the U.S. proposal, which was conveyed to Hamas on Wednesday by Egyptian and Qatari mediators, was to stabilize the ceasefire and clear the roughly half of Gaza that Israel controls of Hamas militants. No Hamas militants had actually crossed over as of Thursday night, according to a senior Israel Defense Forces (IDF) officer.Driving the news: Skirmishes between Israeli forces and Hamas militants who were hiding in tunnels in the Israeli zone led to two major breakdowns in the ceasefire.On Tuesday, Hamas militants emerged from a tunnel and fired at Israeli troops, killing one, according to the IDF.The Israelis declared that a violation of the ceasefire and launched massive airstrikes that killed more than 100 Palestinians, among them women and children, before resuming the ceasefire.Hamas claimed it didn't order that attack and had lost contact with militants who were left behind in the IDF-controlled areas.The intrigue: President Trump acknowledged that Hamas violated the ceasefire and backed the Israeli response in public, but in private White House officials believed it was disproportionate. State of play: A senior IDF officer said there are dozens of Hamas militants still hiding in tunnels in the on the Israeli side of the "yellow line," which separates the zones of control, particularly in the cities of Khan Younis and Rafah."These are pockets that have not been cleared. We are working on a thorough and systematic clearing of these areas," the IDF officer said. "As we tighten our hold and move closer to them, they come out of tunnel shafts and attack our forces, which then provoke an intensive response from us and leads to an escalation."Currently, the ceasefire is holding. Hamas returned the bodies of another two deceased hostages on Thursday as part of their obligations under the deal, with 11 still to be returned.Behind the scenes: The most recent clashes led U.S. officials to seek a solution to avoid another such flare-up. The officials said that on Wednesday, the U.S. notified Hamas through Egypt and Qatar that the group had 24 hours to evacuate their militants from the area east of the yellow line.After that 24-hour window — which expired at 8PM local time (2pm ET) on Thursday — Israel would be able to enforce the ceasefire and engage Hamas targets behind the yellow line, a U.S. official said. The U.S. official said Egypt and Qatar also gave a "green light" to this decision.

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