Hamas has told Egyptian and Qatari mediators it is ready to lay down and store its arsenal of heavy weapons, but only as part of a deal that includes Israel's withdrawal from Gaza and a long-term truce, sources told The National on Sunday.
They said Hamas is also opposed to suggestions that hundreds of fighters trapped in underground tunnels in the Israeli-controlled part of Gaza should be given safe passage out of the coastal enclave if they surrender.
Instead, Hamas wants only the badly wounded among them to leave Gaza for treatment abroad while the rest go to Hamas-held areas in the territory with arms for self-defence, according to the sources, who have first-hand knowledge of continuing deliberations between Hamas and the two Arab mediators.
Hamas also wants members of its armed wing, the Al Qassam Brigades, to retain their firearms for self-defence, according to the sources.
Hamas, they said, wants its heavy weapons, such as rocket launchers and hand-propelled grenades, to be dismantled and stockpiled inside Gaza under the supervision of both Egypt and the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority.
“Everything is dependent on Israel's approval,” said one of the sources. “And the mediators will be looking to President Trump to put pressure on Israel to accept.”
Hamas, they said, has relayed its positions to representatives of mediators Egypt and Qatar ahead of a much-heralded visit to the region this week by Mr Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.
While in the region, Mr Witkoff will try to push forward the second phase of Mr Trump's peace plan for Gaza, which entails the deployment of an international security force in Gaza, the disarmament of Hamas and the reconstruction of the territory, which has been devastated by two years of war.
The first phase provided for a ceasefire that went into effect on October 10 and a hostages-for-prisoners swap under which Hamas released 20 living hostages and the remains of most of the 28 hostages who died in captivity. Israel released about 2,000 Palestinians who had been incarcerated in its prisons as well as the remains of 15 Palestinians for every one hostage's remains.
The unresolved problem of the trapped fighters and the group's failure, so far, to hand over the remains of all 28 deceased hostages, are blamed for the delay in moving to the plan's second phase.
Hamas maintains that locating the burial sites of deceased hostages has been difficult due to the large-scale destruction inflicted by Israel on Gaza and the loss of communication with fighters in the field.
US media reports over the weekend have said Mr Witkoff plans to meet Hamas's chief negotiator Khalil Al Hayya later this week, but the sources could not confirm that such a meeting is planned. If it was to take place, they said, it would be in Doha, Qatar's capital, which would hand a diplomatic win to the Palestinian group, which has long wanted a place at the table.
Hamas is designated a terrorist group by the US, Israel and the EU. However, direct talks between the group's leaders and US representatives are not without precedent.
Earlier this year, the US special envoy for hostages, Adam Boehler, met Hamas officials for what were described at the time as wide-ranging discussions on postwar Gaza and the future of the militant group.
The heavily publicised meeting caused concern in Israel, Washington's closest Middle East ally, which has set the destruction of Hamas and the release of the hostages as its top war goals.
News of the latest Hamas positions on its proposed disarmament and the trapped fighters broke a day before the UN Security Council is to vote on a US resolution that leaves the door open to an independent Palestinian state, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday vowed to oppose.
The draft US resolution, which has the support of major Arab nations, seeks a UN mandate for an international stabilisation force in Gaza despite opposition from Russia, China and some Arab countries. Speaking to his cabinet, Mr Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel’s opposition to a Palestinian state has “not changed one bit.”
The Gaza war was triggered by a deadly Hamas-led attack on southern Israel. It unleashed a massive military campaign by Israel that Gaza health ministry figures say killed nearly 70,000 Palestinians and wounded more than twice that number.
Israel's response has also reduced most of the enclave's built-up areas to rubble and created a humanitarian crisis that touched most of Gaza's estimated 2.3 million residents.
