Hamas offers no middle ground on permanent Gaza ceasefire demand

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Hamas is standing firmly by its conditions for a Gaza ceasefire, demanding a full Israeli withdrawal from the enclave, a permanent ceasefire and the unconditional return of displaced Palestinians to their homes.

A delegation comprising senior leaders Khalil Al Hayah, Zaher Jabareen and Moussa Marzouq has been engaged in “intensive and complicated” talks with Egyptian negotiators in Cairo since Saturday to resolve differences over plans for a Gaza ceasefire and a hostage and prisoner swap, sources told The National on Monday.

The only flexibility Hamas has shown pertains to a related issue. It has agreed to an Egyptian proposal to allow the occupied West Bank-based Palestinian Authority to run the Gaza side of the Rafah land crossing between Egypt and the enclave, the sources said.

An international force will also be posted at the Palestinian side of the crossing to maintain security and enable the flow of relief aid into Gaza and the exit of wounded Palestinians seeking medical care abroad.

“Hamas now insists that not a single one of the hostages it's holding will be released before the group has a guarantee from the United States that negotiations with Israel will produce a permanent ceasefire,” said one of the sources. “We don't think that the Americans will offer that.”

Cairo closed the crossing in May to protest against its capture by Israel along with a strip of land that runs the entire length of the Egypt-Gaza border on the Palestinian side known as the Philadelphi Corridor. The Israeli action has soured relations between Egypt and Israel, bound by a milestone 1979 peace treaty.

Israel has long maintained it did not want the Palestinian Authority to play any role in Gaza, but the sources on Monday said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government may have softened that position.

During talks last week between Israeli and Egyptian negotiators in Tel Aviv, Israel has also agreed to gradually withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor, the sources said, without giving more details.

Egypt's Gaza ceasefire proposals provide for a renewable truce of up to 30 days during which humanitarian assistance will be allowed into Gaza. Hamas, meantime, will use the quiet period to determine the identity and location of the estimated 100 hostages it is holding and how many of them are alive as a prelude to releasing them in return for Palestinians incarcerated in Israel.

Israel on its part will release the names of the Palestinian prisoners whom it is ready to release in exchange for the hostages when a deal is reached, the sources said. The Israeli military contends that at least 40 of the 100 hostages Hamas holds have died in captivity.

The question of the location of the hostages, their state of health and the remains of those who have died has come to the fore in recent months in view of Israel's relentless military campaign in Gaza. The perceived collapse of regular communication between senior Hamas commanders and individuals guarding the hostages has further compounded the issue, according to the sources.

Hamas had previously rejected Israeli demands for a list of names of the hostages and the number and identity of those who died in captivity. Hamas's rejection is believed to be rooted in its conviction that the prisoners are by far the most impactful bargaining card it holds when it negotiates a ceasefire and a prisoner and hostage swap with Israel.

Hamas has, moreover, repeatedly announced that it holds Israel responsible for the safety of the hostages, saying that its military operations in Gaza is what put their lives at risk.

During the proposed truce, said the sources, medicine and medical care would be provided to the hostages and Palestinians displaced by the 13-month-old war would be able to return home.

The Hamas delegation's visit to Cairo was the first since Washington announced on Wednesday it would revive efforts in collaboration with Qatar, Egypt and Turkey to negotiate a Gaza ceasefire that would include a hostage deal.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said he thought the chances of a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza were now more likely.

“Hamas are isolated. Hezbollah is no longer fighting with them, and their backers in Iran and elsewhere are preoccupied with other conflicts,” he told CNN on Sunday. “So I think we may have a chance to make progress, but I'm not going to predict exactly when it will happen … we've come so close so many times and not got across the finish line.”

Besides hunger and malnutrition-related ailments, the war in the tiny coastal strip has left more than 44,000 Palestinians dead and more than twice that number injured. Built-up areas of Gaza have been razed and much of its infrastructure devastated.

Egypt, Qatar and the US have for close to a year been trying without success to broker a ceasefire and the release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for the freedom of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.

The war began when fighters from Hamas and allied Gaza groups attacked southern Israel on October 7 last year, killing about 1,200 Israelis and taking about 250 hostage. The attack drew a relentless Israeli response and spilt over into Lebanon, where Hezbollah and Israel exchanged cross-border fire for nearly a year before Israel invaded southern Lebanon and dramatically increased air strikes across much of the country.

An Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire went into effect last Wednesday.