Group open to temporary pause in fighting as leaders discuss proposals in Cairo
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Hamas has abandoned its demand for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, instead accepting a temporary pause in fighting to allow for a prisoner and hostage swap with Israel and the entry of aid into Gaza, sources told The National on Tuesday.
The group wants international guarantees that the truce would be followed by negotiations to reach a permanent ceasefire, they said.
The Palestinian militant group previously insisted on a permanent ceasefire to accept a deal that includes the release of hostages, and wanted guarantees that a truce would be followed by a permanent ceasefire.
The modified Hamas position also covers a hostage and prisoner swap with Israel that mostly mirrors previous demands but differs in that the group this time wants the process hinged on the progress made in the ceasefire negotiations, said the sources.
The group continues to insist on a full but staged Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the return home, also phased, of Palestinians who left their homes in northern Gaza and sought refuge in the south, explained the sources.
There was no immediate word available from Hamas on its new position, but the militant group’s leader Ismail Haniyeh and senior official Khalil Al Hayah arrived in Cairo on Tuesday to discuss its modified demands with Egyptian, Qatari and, indirectly, US mediators.
Mr Al Hayah is the deputy of Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s leader in Gaza and Israel’s most wanted man.
The new Hamas proposals, say the sources, are giving rise to hope that the fighting may soon be halted.
“This war needs to end and Hamas knew that it needed to soften its conditions,” said one of the sources. “I believe we stand a very good chance of reaching a deal this time round.”
Hamas’s modified negotiating position appears to be the outcome of a fresh push by the mediators to arrive at new proposals to end the fighting in Gaza at a time when Israel is threatening to take its ground offensive to Gaza’s southernmost city Rafah, where more than one million Palestinians have found refuge.
US Middle East envoy Brett McGurk will travel to the region this week for talks that a senior official from President Joe Biden’s administration said would focus on securing the release of hostages held by Hamas.
Mr McGurk, who participated in earlier talks, will visit Egypt on Wednesday and Israel on Thursday.
The new Hamas position, said the sources, is also in response to the provisions of a draft resolution being circulated by the US at the UN Security Council. The American draft is an alternate to a document prepared by Algeria that calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
The US vetoed the resolution proposed by Algeria on Tuesday, after the 15-member Security Council voted 13-1 in favour of the resolution, with the UK abstaining.
US Deputy Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood said on Monday the passage of the Algerian resolution would endanger continuing delicate diplomatic negotiations which could see the release of hostages from Gaza.
The US draft resolution, seen by media, underscores Washington’s “support for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza as soon as practical, based on the formula of all hostages being released” and calls for lifting all barriers on the provision of humanitarian assistance at scale.
It adds that a major ground offensive in Rafah would not only harm civilians but also displace them into neighbouring countries, and says that “a major ground offensive should not proceed under current circumstances”.
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