Hamas 'open to shift' by Israel and US towards comprehensive Gaza deal

Militant group sees potential to ensure its political survival

Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen in Gaza. Reuters

Hamas is open to negotiating a comprehensive Gaza deal that would end the war in the Palestinian enclave and free all the hostages it holds, sources told The National on Monday.

They said the blueprint for a comprehensive deal was being discussed between Israel and the US on one hand and the US and mediators from Qatar and Egypt on the other.

The contacts are conducted remotely and through physical meetings in Cairo and Doha. However, the sources did not disclose the content of the discussions except to say they are expected to be finalised during a proposed 60-day truce in the nearly 22-month war.

US President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff on Saturday told families of hostages held by Hamas he was working with the Israeli government on a plan that would effectively end the war.

Mr Trump himself has said ending the conflict is a priority for his administration. However, months of negotiations mediated by the US, Qatar and Egypt have failed to reach a deal as Israel's government faces mounting pressure over humanitarian conditions in the enclave.

“We have a very, very good plan that we're working on collectively with the Israeli government, with Prime Minister Netanyahu ... for the reconstruction of Gaza. That effectively means the end of the war,” Mr Witkoff is heard saying during his meeting with the hostages' families.

He also said Hamas was prepared to disarm to end the war, a claim that has since been denied by the militant group. Though militarily battered in the war, Hamas has said it will not end its “armed resistance” unless an “independent, fully sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital” is established.

The US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. AFP

The pursuit of a comprehensive plan to end the war and free the hostages presents a shift of focus from the last bid to reach a Gaza deal, when Israel and Hamas were offered a 60-day truce, the release of 10 hostages along with the remains of 18 others and the redeployment of Israeli forces in Gaza to allow for humanitarian aid to flow. Hamas is believed to be still holding about 50 hostages, of whom 20 are believed to be alive.

Long-term end to war

The deal was derailed when Hamas suggested amendments to the final proposals, mainly on the extent of the Israeli redeployment and its insistence that high-profile Palestinians serving long jail terms in Israeli prisons are included among the hundreds to be freed by Israel as part of a deal.

The sources said Hamas believed the search for a comprehensive deal would open the door to negotiations on its long-standing demands for an Israeli withdrawal and a long-term end to the war.

Palestinians carry aid supplies in central Gaza on August 4. Reuters

Additionally, they said, Hamas hopes the discussions will touch on Gaza's postwar future and its plans to ensure its survival by morphing into a political force after a gradual, internationally supervised process in which it will lay down and store its arms.

“Hamas wants to hold out for as long as it can,” said one of the sources. “It wants to stay in the picture until the last possible moment to safeguard its existence and ensure the safety of its fighters and leaders.”

Hamas is also hoping a long-term ceasefire will allow it to save the lives of scores, if not hundreds, of operatives trapped inside its elaborate network of underground tunnels in Gaza, and to ensure the safety of its leaders, who will leave Gaza with their families to live in temporary exile, said the sources.

The sources, however, warned that Israel was showing no signs that it had abandoned its military and security plans for Gaza. Israel has already taken concrete steps to force a large segment of Gaza's population to move south near the Egyptian border, and to carve much of the tiny territory into no-go security zones and what it calls humanitarian areas.

“The grand plan remains for Israel to create conditions on the ground that leave the Palestinians little choice but to seek a dignified and secure life elsewhere,” said another source. “Forced evictions also remain on the table.”

A mother mourns her son, who was killed by Israeli fire while trying to receive aid. Reuters

The Gaza war was sparked by a surprise, Hamas-led attack on southern Israeli communities in October 2023 in which 1,200 people were killed and 250 more taken hostage. Israel's response has been a military campaign that has to date killed more than 60,000 and wounded more than twice that number, according to figures from the Hamas-run Health Ministry. The UN deems the figures reliable.

The war has also displaced most of Gaza's 2.3 million residents, more than once in many cases, and razed most of its built-up areas.