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Gaza ceasefire talks in Qatar are focused on proposals for a truce of up to 70 days and the release of nine hostages, sources told The National on Sunday, as more than 130 people were killed by Israeli air strikes.
Israel signalled on Sunday that it was open to striking a deal with Hamas that included “ending the fighting” in Gaza, where rescuers reported scores of people killed a day after Israel increased its offensive and announced it had launched an “extensive” ground operation.
A statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Israel's negotiators in Doha “were working to exhaust every possibility for a deal”.
Such a deal, said the statement, “would include the release of all the hostages, the exile of Hamas terrorists, and the disarmament of the Gaza Strip”.
Medical sources in Gaza said 132 Palestinians were killed in intensive Israeli air strikes from dawn on Sunday, including 61 people in Gaza city and elsewhere in the northern Gaza Strip, official news agency Wafa reported.
Under the plan being discussed in Qatar, the sources said negotiations on a permanent ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza would commence during the truce, with Hamas demanding that the US offers the militant group a guarantee that they would target a “comprehensive” deal to end the 19-month-old conflict.
However, the sources said that while Hamas was demanding a 70-day truce, Israel's counterproposal was for just 42 days, up from the 21 days it had earlier suggested.
“That's a degree of progress,” said one of the sources.
The talks came as a new offensive was under way, part of an expanded campaign that Israel says is aimed at defeating Hamas.
The military said that over the past day, both active duty and reservist troops had “begun extensive ground operations throughout the northern and southern Gaza Strip”, adding they had “eliminated dozens of terrorists, dismantled terrorist infrastructure sites … and are currently being deployed in key positions”.
During the initial truce, Hamas has also agreed to release the remains of half the hostages who died while in captivity, said the sources.
The release of both the living hostages and remains of deceased would be staggered, said the sources. Their freedom would be bartered for the release of hundreds of Palestinian detainees held in Israeli prisons.
Hamas is believed to be holding 58 hostages − of whom only 23 are now thought to still be alive − according to the Israeli military. Last week, Hamas freed dual US-Israel national Edan Alexander as a goodwill gesture to US President Donald Trump as he embarked on a milestone Middle East tour that took him to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE.
No Palestinians held in Israeli jails were freed in return for his release, which had been expected to significantly contribute to reaching a deal on a Gaza truce. That expectation was further prompted by Mr Trump's upbeat comments.
He said “good things” would come to Gaza within the next month and that he wanted to “help out” Palestinians, as he acknowledged that “a lot of people are starving in Gaza”.
Instead, Israel announced it was launching the “initial stages” of another Gaza operation, which has claimed hundreds of lives since Friday, according to the health authorities in Gaza.
The sources said Israel has also made it clear in negotiations in Qatar that it has no intention of withdrawing fully from Gaza. According to the sources, Israel said it would hold on to parts of the enclave to ensure no repeat of the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on its southern communities, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 240 abducted.
It is also adamant it would only agree to a “renewable” truce after the initial ceasefire is over, said the sources. They did not specify the duration of the renewable truce.
Israel responded to the October 2023 attack with a devastating military operation that has to date killed more than 53,300 Palestinians and wounded more than twice that number, according to Gaza's health authorities.
The war also laid to waste most of Gaza's built-up areas and displaced the majority of its 2.3 million residents.
Israel has consistently maintained that it will not end the Gaza war before Hamas's military and governing capabilities are completely dismantled. Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, has shown its readiness to be excluded from any postwar Gaza administration or reconstruction effort.
It also suggested that it was prepared to lay down, though not surrender, its arms while transforming itself into a political party. It has also signalled its openness to meet Israel's demand for some of its leaders in Gaza to leave the strip, provided they are not targeted while living in exile.
