A new round of negotiations to restart the stalled talks on a ceasefire in Gaza and a hostage deal will begin in the coming days in Doha, with a Hamas delegation said to be heading to Cairo to meet with Egyptian officials, according to Saudi media.
According to a BBC report on Monday, a new proposal by Qatari and Egyptian mediators calls for a 5 to 7-year truce, the release of all of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, an end to the war and a complete withdrawal of IDF troops from the Strip, BBC reported on Monday.
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Protesters demand a hostage release deal in Tel Aviv on Monday
(Photo: Ariel Schalit / AP)
According to The Saudi TV channel al-Hadath on Tuesday, citing a senior Palestinian source, Hamas had indicated that it would be willing to hand over governance of Gaza to any Palestinian entity agreed upon "at the national and regional level," adding that it could be the Palestinian Authority, an option that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had rejected.
It was too soon to asses whether the new proposal could lead to a breakthrough in the stalled negotiations, the source said but added that the efforts were "serious" and that Hamas was showing "unprecedented flexibility" after rejecting the latest proposal reportedly tabled by Israel last week.
The Qatari al-Araby al-Jadeed newspaper reported that an Israeli delegation arrived in Cairo on Sunday and met with Egyptian mediators. The delegation may have been sent after pressure from the United States regarding American hostages. A source told the Qatari outlet that the Trump administration's pressure for the release of the Americans increased, coinciding with a ramping up of ground operations in Gaza, as the IDF begins to operate deeper in residential areas.
Khalil al-Hayya, who heads Hamas’ negotiating team and leads the terrorist group’s Gaza operations, said Hamas is ready to immediately negotiate on a comprehensive deal that includes the release of all hostages in exchange for an agreed number of Palestinian prisoners, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the start of reconstruction efforts. “We will not be part of Netanyahu’s political cover for continuing the war,” he said.
He added that the group’s weapons and armed resistance “are a natural right” tied to the existence of occupation, rejecting the possibility of disarmament.