TRUCE TALKS TO RESUME IN DOHA AS HAMAS SETS OUT PROPOSALS
▶ US, Qatar and Egypt to mediate negotiations as militant group seeks initial six-week pause in fighting
Negotiations are set to resume in Doha today with the aim of securing a truce in the Israel-Gaza war, days after Israel dismissed as “unrealistic” Hamas’s latest conditions for a halt to the fighting.
The talks will be led by CIA director William Burns, Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman, sources told The National.
Israel’s delegation will be led by Mossad chief David Barnea and Shin Bet head Ronen Bar. Hamas will be represented by its political leader Ismail Haniyeh and Khalil Al Hayah, the deputy of its leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar.
On Thursday, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the militant group’s proposals were based on “unrealistic demands”.
The proposals, which will be the focus of the talks in Doha, include some compromises, but also conditions that Israel is unlikely to accept.
Hamas is seeking an initial six-week truce during which Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza’s urban centres.
Israeli forces would also be obliged to stay away from Gaza’s two main roads – Salaheddin and Al Rasheed – that run the entire length of the enclave.
Hamas says this would enable humanitarian aid to be delivered across Gaza, and allow residents of central and northern areas of the enclave who have been displaced by the fighting to return to their homes safely, the sources said.
Hamas has also demanded guarantees from the mediators that a permanent ceasefire will be in place when the six-week truce ends.
The group has offered to release between 40 to 45 of the estimated 100 hostages it still holds over the six weeks. Those freed would be women and children, as well as ailing and elderly captives.
In return, Israel must release at least 1,000 Palestinian detainees held in its prisons.
Humanitarian aid should freely flow into Gaza during the initial truce, including temporary homes and tents for those whose homes are destroyed or damaged.
Hospitals damaged during the fighting must be repaired, re-equipped and returned to normal operation.
During the second phase of the deal, lasting six more weeks, Hamas has demanded that Israel complete a full withdrawal from Gaza.
The return of displaced Gazans to their homes – more than 80 per cent of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, most of them now living in Rafah in southern Gaza close to the Egyptian border – should be completed over the same period.
Meanwhile, Hamas will release the estimated five female Israeli soldiers it is holding hostage. The group wants Israel to release 50 Palestinians for each one of them, including 30 detainees serving life or extended jail sentences.
The third phase of the deal is open-ended. It will include a swap of active-duty Israeli soldiers held by Hamas for Palestinian detainees, whose number will be determined later. It also involves Hamas allowing independent forensic experts to examine the remains of the estimated 30 hostages who died in captivity to determine their identity before they are handed over to Israel in exchange for the re
On Thursday, Netanyahu’s office said Hamas’s ceasefire proposals were based on ‘unrealistic demands’
lease of Palestinian detainees. Hamas has said the implementation of the proposals depends on Israel fulfilling its part of the deal. The group has also demanded that the mediators provide guarantees and a timeline for the reconstruction of Gaza.
The sources said there were no guarantees that the Doha negotiations would result in a deal both Israel and Hamas deem acceptable. Both sides of the conflict are equally keen to declare victory and do not want to be seen to have given in to the other’s conditions for a ceasefire, the sources added.
The inflexible approach taken by both sides has wasted months of negotiations and contacts by the US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators to end the fighting and ensure the delivery of much-needed aid to Gaza.
A week-long truce was reached in late November, when Hamas freed 100 hostages and humanitarian aid deliveries were increased.
The most recent talks failed despite significant US pressure to have a truce in place before the start of Ramadan, which began last Monday.