HAMAS ‘RETURNS TO TABLE’ FOR BACK CHANNEL TALKS TO END GAZA CONFLICT
▶ Negotiations had stalled after militant group deputy leader Saleh Al Arouri’s death in Beirut drone strike
Indirect talks aimed at bringing an end to the war in Gaza have resumed, sources have told The National, after being briefly suspended when a senior Hamas member was killed in Beirut.
Egyptian proposals to end the three-month conflict are the focus of talks, the sources said.
Hamas and Israel are in contact with Egyptian, Qatari and US mediators to find a way to end the fighting, they added.
Hamas suspended their participation in the talks only hours after the assassination of Saleh Al Arouri, the group’s deputy leader, and several senior commanders on Tuesday.
News of the resumption of talks coincided with an Axios report that Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman met relatives of at least six Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza on Saturday. Sheikh Mohammed told them that talks with Hamas had become more complicated since Mr Al Arouri’s death, which has been widely attributed to Israel.
The move to suspend participation in the talks, made by Hamas’s leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar, was made a few days after Egyptian sources reported the militant group was open to proposals. Israel was said at the time to be studying suggestions put forward by mediators, but has also remained firm on its demands.
The sources said Hamas leaders had withheld their final approval of the proposals pending guarantees that Israel would agree to a permanent ceasefire after the Egyptian plan’s twomonth timeline ends.
The draft plan approved in principle by Hamas has three stages which, if approved, would have Egypt, the US and Qatar as its guarantors. The first stage provides for a 20day truce during which Hamas would release children, elderly people, women and those in need of medical treatment from among the estimated 130 hostages still held in Gaza. In return, Israel would free Palestinian detainees from its jails, although the number to be released had yet to be agreed on.
During the ceasefire, Israel would refrain from all aerial activity over Gaza, including drone and reconnaissance flights.
The second phase would last 10 days, during which the truce would continue. Hamas would release female Israeli soldiers in exchange for more Palestinians from Israeli prisons.
Israel would also withdraw its forces from Gaza’s urban areas and allow substantial humanitarian assistance to enter the coastal enclave.
Gaza’s 2.3 million residents would be allowed to move freely inside the territory, except for areas where Israeli forces are stationed.
The third phase is a monthlong window to negotiate a final detainee and hostage swap in which Hamas would free male Israeli soldiers in return for more Palestinian detainees, including high-profile figures serving life sentences.
Also at this stage, Israel would withdraw all troops from Gaza.
The sources said Israel has since insisted that two “buffer zones” 2km deep within the northern and eastern flanks of Gaza be created to deny Hamas direct access to Israeli territory.
Hamas had previously rejected those demands. A counterproposal under discussion involves security personnel belonging to the West Bankbased Palestinian Authority being stationed in those buffer zones as a compromise.
Other Israeli demands include placing restrictions on the movement of Palestinians from southern to northern Gaza until a permanent ceasefire is in force and Israeli forces have withdrawn.
The sources previously said the proposed deal was likely to have clauses that would not be publicised.
These would include language linked to Gaza’s postwar governance and security, as well as security assurances demanded by Israel to ensure there would be no repeat of the October 7 attacks.