Mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the US are in talks with Israel over the fate of Hamas fighters trapped in the group's underground tunnels in the part of Gaza controlled by the Israeli military, sources told The National on Tuesday.
They did not know the exact number of Hamas fighters behind the “yellow line” to which Israeli troops withdrew as part of the US-brokered ceasefire that paused the war on October 10. However, they said they were likely to be in the low hundreds.
The mediators are proposing that the fighters are given safe passage to areas under Hamas control, said the sources, with Red Cross representatives ferrying them there in their vehicles.
The proposal includes the fighters leaving behind heavy weapons and taking only firearms for self-defence, the sources added.
Israel has yet to inform the mediators of its final decision. However, the sources said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was under pressure from extremist members of his government not to allow the fighters to leave, blaming them for a pair of deadly attacks on Israeli soldiers last month.
The sources said there are fears that the trapped fighters, many of whom had not been in contact with their commanders in months, would stage attacks on Israeli soldiers, jeopardising the fragile ceasefire and derailing US President Donald Trump's peace plan for Gaza.
“There is a genuine fear that some of them will resort to suicide missions against the Israeli military,” said one source. “If that happens, then there is a strong possibility the ceasefire, and maybe the whole process, will collapse.”
In the first phase of the plan, a ceasefire come into force and Hamas released 20 living hostages in exchange for about 2,000 Palestinians who had been detained in Israeli jails.
Hamas has also handed over to Israel the remains of more than half of the 28 hostages who died in captivity, but says the widespread destruction in Gaza is hampering the search for the burial places of the remainder.
The second phase of Mr Trump's plan entails the thorny issues of deploying an international stabilisation force in Gaza and the governance of the enclave, as well as the disarmament of Hamas and reconstruction of the territory.
The US was reported this week to have sent members of the UN Security Council a draft resolution to establish the force, which is likely to have a two-year mandate.
The force, which is expected to number around 4,000, will be drawn from Arab and Muslim nations and work alongside several thousand Palestinian police officers who have been trained by Egypt and Jordan, US allies who have signed peace treaties with Israel.
Palestinian factions are expected to meet in Egypt this week to select a 15-member commission of independent Palestinian technocrats that will run the day-to-day affairs of postwar Gaza, the sources said.
The Gaza war began when Hamas and its allies attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking another 250 hostage. Israel responded with a military campaign that has killed nearly 70,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 170,000, according to Gaza government figures.
The war also created a humanitarian crisis, with most of the 2.3 million population displaced from their homes. In August, the UN declared famine in parts of Gaza following months of Israeli restrictions on the entry of aid. Humanitarian deliveries increased after the ceasefire began but still fall short of what is needed, Palestinian officials and aid agencies said.
