A Hamas delegation led by the group's chief negotiator is in Egypt to discuss the implementation of the second phase of US President Donald Trump's Gaza peace plan, including the group's disarmament, sources told The National on Sunday.
They said the Hamas delegation, headed by Khalil Al Hayah, will also discuss with Egyptian mediators the formation of a 15-member committee of independent Palestinian technocrats to run Gaza's day-to-day affairs.
Hamas, according to the sources, has signalled its readiness to hand over its heavy weapons on condition that members of its military wing keep firearms for self-defence.
The heavy weapons, such as rocket batteries, rocket-propelled grenades and machineguns, would be handed over, dismantled and stored in Gaza under Egyptian or international supervision, said the sources who are familiar with the talks between Hamas and the mediators.
The first phase of Mr Trump's plan entailed a ceasefire that came into effect on October 10 as well as a hostages-for-prisoners swap, with Hamas releasing 20 living captives and the remains of most of another 28 who died in captivity. Israel has freed 2,000 Palestinians who had been detained in its prisons, as well as the remains of more than 300 others.
Hamas is known to be facing logistical challenges in locating the burial sites of the remaining three deceased hostages because of the widespread destruction in Gaza after two years of war in the coastal enclave.
"Hamas is adamant that its men keep their self-defence firearms. Handing over its heavy weapons is a done deal," said one of the sources. "But we are yet to know whether that will be accepted by Israel."
Hamas and the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority have jointly put forward the names of 40 candidates to sit on the technocratic committee to run Gaza, said the sources. Of the 40, the two sides need to agree on the 15 who will sit on the committee.
The visit of the Hamas officials to Egypt comes at a time when the fragile October 10 ceasefire has repeatedly been tested.
The latest test came on Saturday when Israeli air strikes killed more than 20 people and injured more than 80 in Gaza, Palestinian health authorities said.
The Israeli military said the attacks were in response to a "blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement" when a gunman crossed into Israeli-held territory in Gaza. A Hamas official in Gaza rejected that claim as baseless, saying the group remained committed to the ceasefire.
Hamas said earlier in the day that Israel's "escalating violations" placed a responsibility on mediators – the US, Egypt, Qatar and Turkey – to confront it and preserve the ceasefire.
Israel, for its part, called on the mediators to "insist that Hamas fulfil its side of the ceasefire" by returning the remaining three dead hostages and completing disarmament, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said.
The sources who spoke to The National on Sunday said Egypt, which borders Israel and Gaza, has been deeply concerned about the fate of the truce.
Its worst fear, they said, was the territory becoming mired in inter-Palestinian strife should the ceasefire collapse, noting Israeli-sponsored armed groups opposed to Hamas posed a threat to stability in Gaza, as well as the territorial integrity of the strip.
Another source of concern are divisions inside the Hamas leadership over the way forward for the militant group and its armed wing, they said.
One faction is in favour of Hamas abandoning its role as an armed resistance group and turning into a purely political faction. Another, the sources explained, wants to retain the group's role as an active military entity, relying on young and zealous men recruited during the war to force Israel to withdraw from the enclave.
However, the sources said Hamas has been greatly weakened by the war, losing many of its leaders, field commanders and much of its arsenal as a result of Israel's relentless military campaign in Gaza, where the war was triggered by a deadly Hamas-led attack on southern Israel in October 2023.
The Israeli response has killed about 70,000 Palestinians and injured more than twice that number, health authorities in Gaza say. Much of the enclave's built-up areas have been laid to waste.
