Scores of Hamas fighters stranded for weeks in underground tunnels in a part of Gaza controlled by the Israeli military have escaped, sources briefed on the matter told The National on Wednesday.
They said an estimated 200 to 300 have over the past week made it out of tunnels in southern Gaza, emerging in separate groups in areas under either Israeli or Hamas control.
In some cases, they said, local militiamen sponsored by Israel were bribed to look the other way as the fighters came out in areas held by the Israelis.
"We don't know whether there are still any living fighters inside the tunnels," said one of the sources. "But we believe the overwhelming majority of those stranded are now either dead inside the tunnels, or free."
The fighters became stranded after a US-sponsored ceasefire took effect in Gaza on October 10, pausing the two-year war. Under the terms of the truce, Israel withdrew its troops behind a “yellow line” marking the border of Israeli-held territory.
For months, the trapped fighters have had little contact with their commanders because of Israel's relentless bombardment of Gaza. Any communication has ground to a halt since the ceasefire.
Among the stranded were elite fighters from the Hamas Khan Younis Brigade, the sources said at the weekend. They were running out of water, food and ammunition and were adamant they would never surrender, they added.
Some died of wounds sustained in clashes with Israeli troops, they said.
The fighters were believed to have been spread out across three tunnels in the Rafah area of southern Gaza.
The sources who spoke to The National on Wednesday said some fighters emerged above ground in areas inside the yellow line and were guided by the Israeli-backed militiamen to reach Hamas-controlled areas. The militiamen were bribed by Hamas, they said, without giving details.
Others, they explained, owe their freedom to repairs carried out by Hamas operatives to damaged or destroyed tunnels, thus allowing stranded fighters to emerge in Khan Younis, an area in southern Gaza controlled by Hamas.
Neither Hamas nor the Israeli military has commented on the news relayed by the sources.
Publicly, Hamas has been trying to resolve the crisis. Its latest offer to end the stand-off, which was presented to mediators last week, provided for the fighters to come out of the tunnels and be given safe passage out of Gaza to live in exile.
Israel is understood to have informed the mediators – who met in Cairo last week – that it categorically rejects the Hamas proposal and insists the fighters must surrender unconditionally and be taken captive. The Israeli counter-offer was made with the threat of bombing the tunnels, or picking the fighters off as they attempted to flee, the sources said.
By Sunday, the Israeli military said 34 stranded fighters were dead.
The stalemate in weeks of talks on the fate of the stranded fighters had been one of several stumbling blocks preventing the progress of the US-backed peace plan for Gaza.
During the first phase, Hamas released the remaining 20 living hostages and all but two of the bodies of 28 others who had died in captivity.
In return, Israel freed about 2,000 Palestinians who had been held in its prisons and the bodies of more than 300. An increase in the flow of humanitarian aid into the enclave took place, although the volume is widely believed to still be inadequate.
The second phase involves the disarmament of Hamas and the formation of a committee of independent Palestinian technocrats to run the day-to-day affairs of Gaza.
It also allows for an international stabilisation force to be stationed in Gaza and for work to begin on rebuilding the devastated enclave. There have been some encouraging signs that the process will progress.
On Wednesday, Israel said it would open the Rafah crossing “exclusively for the exit of residents” from the Gaza Strip.
The key border crossing will be open “in the coming days” and the “residents' exit will be facilitated through co-ordination with Egypt, following security approval by Israel”, said Cogat, the arm of the Israeli military that oversees aid deliveries.
Egypt, however, appears to have rejected the Israeli move, saying the Rafah crossing should be open for traffic in either direction under US President Donald Trump's plan.
On Tuesday, Qatar – which, together with the US, Egypt and Turkey, has been mediating to end the Gaza war – said it hoped Israel and Hamas could be brought to a new phase of negotiation. "We think we should be pushing the parties to stage two very, very soon," Qatar Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari said.
The Gaza war began on October 7, 2023, with a Hamas-led attack that killed about 1,200 people in southern Israeli communities. Israel's military response has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians, Gaza's health authorities say, and destroyed most of the enclave's built-up areas.
It has also created a humanitarian crisis that has left most of the enclave's 2.2 million residents facing hunger.
The war has also given rise to charges of genocide against Israel, including at the UN International Court of Justice. Israel is accused of deliberately starving Palestinians in Gaza, a charge the country denies.
