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Hamas is open to another hostage and prisoner swap deal with Israel if the latter agrees to a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, as well as a host of other demands, according to Egyptian officials with direct knowledge of the negotiations.
Israel, which has vowed to annihilate Hamas and has been relentlessly bombarding Gaza since October 7, says a temporary truce such as the one that ended on December 1 will suffice, said the officials.
Underlining the intransigence of both parties, Hamas and Israel are telling mediators from Egypt, the United States and Qatar that they have the stomach and means to carry on fighting for months, said the officials.
The officials spoke to The National only hours before the UN General Assembly was due to vote, and most likely adopt, a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The non-binding resolution comes after the US, Israel's chief backer, vetoed a similar resolution at the Security Council on Friday, angering Arab nations, including traditional American allies Egypt and Jordan.
The officials said Hamas, which is indirectly involved in the negotiations taking place in Egypt, Qatar and Ramallah, wants a permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli ground troops from Gaza in return for the staggered release of up to 50 of the estimated 137 hostages it still holds.
It says the 50 would be made up of women, children, the elderly and those with medical needs. In return, it wants a total of 300 Palestinians held in Israeli jails freed. The proposal, Hamas says, should be part of a larger deal under which all Palestinians held in Israel and the remainder of the hostages in Gaza are released.
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Rawda Abu Ajamieh is greeted by relatives and friends in the occupied West Bank after her release from Israeli detention as part of a temporary truce deal in the Gaza war. AFP -
Hamas militants release some hostages to the International Committee of the Red Cross as part of the deal. Reuters -
Hamas freed 13 Israeli hostages under the deal, which has brought a pause of fighting in the Israel-Gaza war. AFP -
A Thai woman who was among the hostages released, before being taken to the Shamir Medical Centre in Israel. AP -
The 10 freed Thai hostages at the Shamir Medical Centre. They were seized during the attack on Israel on October 7. AP -
Some of the hostages held by Hamas are handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza. AFP -
The exchange was part of a temporary truce deal that took effect in Gaza on November 24. AFP -
Palestinian detainees released under the deal are carried along a street in Baytunia, in the occupied West Bank. AFP -
The Palestinians are among 39 released from Israeli jails under the agreement between Hamas and Israel. AFP -
Fireworks light up the sky as Palestinians celebrate the release of the detainees, in the occupied West Bank. AFP -
A Palestinian is greeted by her family in Baytunia after being freed from jail. AFP -
Palestinians released by Israel are carried along a street as crowds celebrate. AFP -
Freed detainee Hanin Barghouti, centre, speaks to loved ones. AFP -
The group of Israeli hostages were handed over to aid workers, before being taken to Israel's military. Reuters -
Nour Al Taher in Baytunia after her release from an Israeli prison, as part of a deal that brought a pause of the fighting in Gaza. AFP -
Fatima Amarneh is welcomed by loved ones, near Jenin in the West Bank, after leaving jail. Reuters -
The released Palestinian detainees comprised 24 women and 15 children. AFP -
Palestinians in Beitonia, near Ramallah, celebrate the release of the group from Israeli detention. EPA -
Medical workers at Israel's Schneider-Children's Medical Centre receive some of the hostages released by Hamas. EPA -
An Israeli helicopter with released hostages lands at the medical centre in Tel Aviv. AFP -
Family and friends gather as a helicopter arrives with hostages released by Hamas. Getty Images -
Israelis look on as a helicopter with released hostages prepares to land in Tel Aviv. AFP -
Crowds in the West Bank celebrate the arrival of Palestinians released from Israeli jails. EPA -
Marah Bakir, right, was among the first Palestinian detainees to be released by Israeli authorities in a swap between Israel and Hamas. AP -
Released Palestinian detainees leave jail near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. Reuters -
Ms Bakir is reunited with her family through the swap deal between Hamas and Israel. Reuters -
Ms Bakir embraces a family member after her release. Reuters -
Ms Bakir with a family member in Jerusalem. Reuters -
A vehicle carrying hostages abducted by Hamas arrives at the Rafah border crossing amid a hostage-prisoner swap deal between the militant group and Israel. Reuters -
The hostages had been held in Gaza since the Hamas attack of October 7. Reuters -
A vehicle carrying hostages. Reuters -
An International Red Cross vehicle reportedly carrying Israeli hostages released by Hamas crosses the Rafah border point in the Gaza Strip towards Egypt. AFP -
The hostages will be taken to Israel and reunited with their families. AFP -
Under the temporary truce agreement with Israel, Hamas will release at least 50 Israeli hostages over four days. Reuters -
The hostages will be flown to Israel to be reunited with their families. AFP -
After 48 days of a bombardment that has claimed thousands of lives, a four-day truce in the Israel-Gaza war began on Friday. AFP -
The hostages were taken into Gaza following Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7. Reuters -
Once the hostages have been transferred, 39 Palestinian detainees are set to be released from several Israeli prisons. Reuters
Hamas took about 240 people hostage when its fighters rampaged through southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people. Their surprise attack drew a harsh response from Israel, which has since been pounding Gaza from the air, sea and land, killing more than 18,000 Palestinians – mostly women and children – and obliterating much of northern Gaza.
More than 80 per cent of the coastal enclave's 2.3 million residents are now displaced amid a catastrophic humanitarian crisis perpetuated by a collapsing health care system, hunger and the spread of disease.
Under a week-long truce that ended on December 1, Hamas released 78 hostages and 180 Palestinians were freed by Israel.
More than 5,000 Palestinians remain detained in Israeli prisons.
Hostilities have resumed since, with Israel taking its ground offensive to southern Gaza, where hundreds of thousands are crowding into small areas previously considered safe.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has refused to commit to a firm timetable for his country's military operations in Gaza, but signalled the current phase of heavy ground fighting and air strikes could stretch on for weeks and that further military activities could last for months.
The next phase, he explained, would be lower-intensity fighting against “pockets of resistance”.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel will maintain security control over Gaza indefinitely.
Other Hamas conditions for the release of hostages, according to the officials, include the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, a halt to efforts to kill or capture leaders of the militant group as well as raids against suspected militants in the occupied West Bank.
Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, also wants an end to what it says are transgressions by Jewish settlers in Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque complex, Islam's third holiest site.
Hamas, said the officials, has rejected repeated requests made by Israel that delegates from the International Committee of the Red Cross visit the hostages. Hamas believes such a visit would be used by Israel to glean useful information on the whereabouts of the hostages, they said.
The officials said it was difficult to accurately gauge progress in the negotiations but insisted reaching a deal on a second temporary truce could not be ruled out.
“Israel already has realised some of the biggest goals of the war and that's rendering large parts of Gaza unsuitable for human habitation and fatiguing Hamas's military and human capabilities,” said one of the officials.
On the separate negotiating track on the future of Gaza after the end of hostilities, or what has come to be known as “day after” scenarios, proposals include Palestinians holding legislative and presidential elections, the exploitation of the large reserves of natural gas off Gaza's Mediterranean coast and reconstruction of the sector, with Egypt, Qatar and Turkey undertaking the task, said the officials.
They said Iran, the chief backer of Hamas, Lebanon's Hezbollah and Yemen's Houthis were kept abreast of the progress of the talks by Egypt and Qatar. The two Arab nations are calling on Tehran to do what it can to prevent the spread of the Gaza war into a fully fledged regional conflict.
Of particular concern, said the officials, are the Houthis' attacks on ships in the Red Sea, which could disrupt global trade and unleash a surge in oil and food prices worldwide.
The more controversial plans floated concerned who governs the enclave and how to keep the peace.
For example, the negotiators, according to the officials, see the annihilation of Hamas – an Israeli goal supported by the US – as a tall order, near impossible to achieve.
Another scenario deemed unrealistic was establishing a demilitarised Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank. Hamas, which vows to destroy Israel, rejects this proposal.
Israel, said the officials, is demanding a three-year transition period before it can consider relinquishing its sole responsibility for security in Gaza. The US opposes a security role for Israel in Gaza but is on board with its declared aim of dismantling Hamas's military and governing abilities.
Israel is also demanding the creation of buffer zones in Gaza that deny militants direct access to the borders with Israel. Egypt, which borders both Israel and Gaza, rejects that.
“Destroying Hamas, even its military capability – Israeli leaders' chief war aim – will be a tall order without decimating what remains of Gaza,” the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based international think tank, said in a report released at the weekend.
