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Hamas said it would send negotiators back to Cairo “as soon as possible” to resume talks on the latest proposal to release Israeli hostages and end the war in Gaza, after the US said “now is the time.” “, to reach an agreement.
In his first public comments since Hamas mediators presented the plan, the militant group’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh emphasized “the positive spirit of the movement in considering the ceasefire proposal.”
Haniyeh’s statement came as the United States, Egypt and Qatar, which facilitate indirect talks between Hamas and Israel, increased pressure on the warring parties to reach a deal across the border.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said this week that the proposal presented to Hamas was “extraordinarily generous on Israel’s part” and called on the group to “get this done.”
Haniyeh, who spoke to Egyptian and Qatari officials, said Hamas agreed to continue talks with the aim of reaching an agreement “to meet the demands of our people and stop aggression against them.”
Negotiators’ hopes were raised earlier in the week after Israel appeared to soften its stance on some of the key terms of a deal.
But important questions remain, including whether Israel will agree to a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and withdraw troops from the besieged enclave – two key demands from Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this week that a planned offensive against the southern Gaza town of Rafah, where more than a million people have sought refuge, would continue regardless of whether a deal is reached with Hamas or not.
Negotiators fear that his insistence on attacking Rafah, despite warnings from the UN and the West that it would be disastrous in such a densely populated area, could dim prospects for a breakthrough in hostage negotiations.
Netanyahu is also facing increasing pressure from far-right members of his ruling coalition not to stop Israel’s offensive in Gaza, which has now lasted more than six months and began after the deadly Hamas attack on October 7.
The latest proposal calls for a multi-stage process that would lead to an initial six-week pause in fighting during which Hamas would release 33 hostages, according to diplomats briefed on the talks.
These include children, the elderly, women – including female soldiers – and wounded prisoners. This would be followed by a second phase calling for “the restoration of sustainable calm” as proposed by the US, a diplomat said.
Negotiators hope this will overcome the biggest hurdle to a deal: Hamas’s insistence on a permanent ceasefire at the end of any deal, which Israel has repeatedly rejected.
The Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, which is close to Hamas ally Hezbollah, also reported that the proposal calls for a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the heart of the Gaza Strip to allow displaced Palestinians in the south to return to their homes and neighborhoods North.
The proposal states that Israel would release 20 Palestinian prisoners for every civilian hostage and 40 for every soldier released.
The importance of a deal was underscored in a UN report released on Thursday that said if the war ended today, it would take until 2040 to rebuild all the homes destroyed in the fighting in Gaza. The report also warned that the damage to the economy will set back development for generations.
Israel said Hamas arrested about 250 people during its Oct. 7 attack that killed 1,200 people. Israel’s retaliatory offensive on Gaza has killed more than 34,000 people and significantly weakened Hamas’s military capabilities, according to Palestinian health authorities.