4 days ago
Mediators resume contact with negotiators despite angry US and Israeli reaction to Hamas's response
Mediators have resumed contact with Israeli and Hamas negotiators on a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal, rekindling hopes for a breakthrough after Israel and the US angrily rejected Hamas's response to the latest proposals, sources told The National on Sunday.
They said remote discussions intensified in the past 48 hours between the Egyptian and Qatari mediators on one side and US and Israeli officials on the other. The US offered assurances that full-blown negotiations will resume, they added.
Israel's announcement on Sunday of a daily pause in military operations in three parts of Gaza and the opening of new aid corridors was in effect the implementation of the humanitarian segment of the latest proposals to pause the Gaza war, said the sources.
The parties involved have also reportedly touched upon the possibility of an enduring settlement of the Gaza war, including the governing of the devastated enclave, reconstruction and the fate of Hamas's arsenal and leaders.
Hamas has already given its unconditional agreement to a 60-day truce and signalled it was open to suggestions to lay down its arms and the departure of its leaders from Gaza to live in exile with their families.
The sources said those issues will be discussed in more detail during the proposed 60-day truce. The United States has given assurances that the truce would continue as long as negotiations did not break down, they added.
Since giving its response last week, the sources said Hamas informed mediators it has dropped the "small amendments" it wanted introduced to the deal and which provoked an angry response from the US and Israel.
The changes, said the sources, dealt with Israel's redeployment of its forces in Gaza, plus the number and identity of Palestinians it wants freed from Israeli prisons as part of the agreement.
"We believe the Trump administration and Israel, through their hard-line and ominous public response to Hamas's position, wanted to turn up the pressure on the group to accept the deal as is," said one source.
"Mostly, the Hamas amendments were secondary. In some cases, they were to do with 100 metres here and 200 metres there when it comes to the redeployment of Israeli troops in Gaza."
The sources said the continuing contacts between mediators, Israel and Hamas to finalise a deal were being mostly conducted remotely, with the Palestinian group showing flexibility on all contentious issues.
They also pointed out that technical teams from Egypt, Israel, the US and Qatar were staffing an operations centre in Cairo to oversee the delivery of aid to Gaza and iron out relevant security issues.
"The only route now open to a deal is for Hamas to accept what it's being presented with," said another source who has directly participated in the months-long negotiations over Gaza.
"If Hamas does that, then we will all know whether Israel really wants a deal or not. That said, Hamas's response could have been dealt with through further negotiations. I don't understand why Israel and the US acted in public like they were slamming the door shut on the entire process."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ominously said Israel and the US were "considering alternative options" to bring home the remaining 49 hostages and end Hamas's rule of Gaza. The two close allies on Friday withdrew their negotiators from Qatar, where the latest round of Gaza talks began on July 6.
The Gaza war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led fighters stormed southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking another 250 hostages back to Gaza.
Since then, Israel's military response has killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians and wounded more than twice that number, according to Gaza health officials. It has also reduced much of the enclave to ruins and displaced nearly all the 2.3 million population.
