A Hamas delegation led by chief negotiator Khalil Al Hayah was in Cairo on Tuesday to discuss a “comprehensive” deal to end the Gaza war and ensure the release of hostages held by the militant group, sources told The National.
Israel's declared plan to reoccupy Gaza, however, is casting a dark shadow on the discussions in Egypt, with the sources entertaining little hope that their outcome could persuade Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to change course.
Egypt said on Tuesday it was also trying to revive earlier proposals for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza, after the US and Israel withdrew negotiators last month. "We are working very hard now in full co-operation with the Qataris and Americans," Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said.
But US President Donald Trump appeared to cast doubt on the prospect of any deal to end the war, saying he did not believe Hamas would release Israeli hostages unless the situation in Gaza changed, according to American news website Axios.
The Israeli plan to reoccupy Gaza has drawn international condemnation and many have cast doubts on its effectiveness in stopping Hamas and freeing the hostages. But Israeli officials have said the offensive could take several weeks to get under way, which could leave a window for a renewed push in ceasefire talks.
Mr Trump stopped short of directly endorsing Israel’s plans to expand its offensive, but said he agreed with Mr Netanyahu's argument that more military pressure on Hamas was required. He told Axios it was going to be “very rough to get them” because Hamas “are not going to let the hostages out in the current situation”.
A Hamas official told The National that a delegation from the group led by Mr Al Hayah was in Cairo for talks with Egyptian mediators.
“We in Hamas deal positively, with full flexibility and responsibility, with the mediators, but what is obstructing the agreement is Netanyahu and his fascist government, as well as the American administration,” said Mahmoud Taha, who is based in the Lebanese capital Beirut.
On Tuesday, sources told The National the proposed comprehensive deal provides for the release of all 50 hostages still held by Hamas – only 20 of whom are believed to be still alive – and Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons.
Also covered are the laying down and storage of Hamas's weapons under international supervision, the governance of postwar Gaza and reconstruction, the sources said. The flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza is also provided for in the proposed deal, they added.
They said the departure of Hamas leaders from Gaza to live in exile abroad with their families is also on the table.
The proposed deal also envisages the training by Jordan and Egypt of up to 150 Palestinian security and intelligence operatives, as well as providing basic training for a new Palestinian police force, they said.
An Arab force made up of personnel from Egypt, Jordan and possibly Gulf Arab nations would be sent to Gaza to ensure that the terms of a deal are observed, said the sources. That force, which would operate under the UN umbrella, would remain there until legislative and presidential elections are held.
Mr Taha, the Hamas official, rejected the proposals for an Arab force. “Talk about bringing in Arab military forces … is not official. We have seen it in the media but it is not official,” he said.
“The Palestinian factions and the Palestinian people alone decide who is in Gaza … we do not accept external interference and this is Hamas’s position.”
Hamas-Egypt dispute
Tuesday's talks between the Egyptian mediators and Hamas negotiators were the first public face-to-face contact between the two sides since a row erupted between them late last month over what Cairo viewed as criticism by the militant group that it was not doing enough to reduce the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.
The sources said a Turkish mediation led by Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who visited Cairo last week, has ended the row. They gave no details.
The first salvo in the row came from Hamas's aid arm – the Central Emergency Committee – which said Egypt's account of its aid efforts for Gaza was “essentially an excuse to cover its negligence in assuming a humanitarian, moral and Arab duty towards Gaza”.
The statement, parts of which were mocking, added: “It's time that Egypt, with all its weight and prestige, shift away from the logic of 'neutral mediation' to a decisive moral position on the side of Gaza.”
The accusations were repeated by Mr Al Hayah. Writing on the group's Telegram account, he said: “People of Egypt, its leaders, army, clans, tribes, scientists, Al Azhar, churches and elite: Will you let your brothers in Gaza die of hunger when they are near you across the border?”
The accusation that Egypt is not doing enough for the Palestinians in Gaza has been publicly countered by President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and a slate of pro-government pundits and talk show hosts, who angrily accused Hamas of being a tool of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group outlawed in Egypt since 2013.
The essence of the Egyptian argument is that Egypt's Rafah land crossing with Gaza is controlled from the Palestinian side by Israel. Nothing can go through the crossing without Israel's advance approval.
Egypt has, over the past two weeks, taken part in air missions to deliver humanitarian supplies to Gaza, joining several other countries, including Jordan, the UAE, Italy and the UK.
The Gaza war was sparked by an October, 2023 attack led by Hamas against southern Israeli communities, killing 1,200 people and taken another 250 others hostage. Israel responded with a devastating military campaign that has to date killed more than 61,000 Palestinians and wounded more than twice that number, according to authorities in the coastal enclave.
