Hamas in talks on final details of Gaza ceasefire

Hamas leaders are holding talks on the final details of a Gaza ceasefire deal, sources told The National, as a far-right Israeli minister threatens to torpedo any agreement.

Gaza's ruling militants are expected to agree to the latest proposal for a ceasefire and the release of hostages, but the group is seeking clarification about some outstanding issues, the sources said as the talks take place in Cairo on Thursday.

“Hamas has agreed to about 90 per cent of the provisions of the proposals,” said one source. “It's searching for details and clarifications before it gives it final agreement to the plan.”

The main provisions in the proposed deal are a 60-day truce during which Hamas will release 10 living hostages as well as the remains of half those who died in captivity in return for about 1,200 Palestinians detained in Israel.

The proposal also envisions negotiations between Israel and Hamas on ending the war and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the US would provide assurances about those negotiations, but Israel is not committing to that part, according to an Egyptian official quoted by the Associated Press on Thursday.

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has bitterly opposed any deal throughout the war, called on political ally Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to “join forces” to stop a “reckless deal”. Mr Smotrich this week promised to oppose any deal that ended fighting in the strip.

“We must not stop the war without victory,” Mr Ben-Gvir told Israel’s public broadcaster. “What do you think will happen if we stop the war now? That Hamas will hand out flowers?”.

US President Donald Trump has said Israel has agreed the terms of the 60-day ceasefire and that Washington would work with both sides during that time to try to end more than 20 months of war.

If Hamas does not accept what is on offer, Mr Trump warned, its prospects will get worse.

The renewed efforts to reach a Gaza truce are taking place in the aftermath of US and Israeli strikes on nuclear sites in Iran, Hamas's chief foreign backer. They also come ahead of Mr Trump's meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington on Monday.

The sources said senior Hamas leaders were in Cairo on Thursday for talks with Egyptian officials to iron out details and timelines of a range of issues, including the withdrawal of the Israeli military from areas in Gaza it seized after a previous ceasefire collapsed in March.

Also under review by the two sides are the mechanics of the resumption and distribution of humanitarian aid for Gaza, where hundreds of thousands are facing hunger and the acute shortage of essential life items.

It is not immediately clear how the proposal addresses Hamas's long-standing conditions, chiefly an end to the war and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Also not clear are the terms that Israel has accepted and whether it offered any concessions on its often repeated assertion that Hamas must dismantle its military and governance capabilities and free all the hostages before the war can end.

The Egyptian official quoted by AP said both sides have agreed that the UN and the Palestinian Red Crescent would lead aid operations in Gaza and that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which is backed by Israel and the US, would also continue to operate in the enclave.

The Hamas and Egyptian officials are also discussing details of the proposed departure from Gaza of wounded Palestinians for treatment as well as senior Hamas officials who are expected to live in exile abroad.

The precise mandate of a council of independent Palestinian technocrats expected to run the coastal territory when the proposed 60-day truce goes into effect is also being negotiated, according to the sources.

Also under discussion is the storing of weapons to be laid down by Hamas as part of the deal and the return by Israel of the bodies of the group's late Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar, and his brother, military commander Mohammed Sinwar. Both were killed by Israel.

But Mr Ben-Gvir’s call highlights how easily a deal could still be derailed despite apparent recent progress, particularly if Israel's leading hardliners band together.

Mr Ben-Gvir removed his Jewish Power party from the coalition in January in anger about a short-lived hostage deal. He rejoined the government when the war resumed in March.

His manoeuvres have prompted Israel’s opposition to offer Mr Netanyahu a safety net, in case the government lacks the votes to pass a deal. Opposition leader Yair Lapid wrote on X that he was willing to offer his 23 seats to get a hostage deal. “We need to bring them all home now,” he said.

Despite potential difficulties for Mr Netanyahu, senior ministers in the coalition appear to be supporting the push for an agreement. “There is a large majority in the government and among the people for the plan to release hostages,” Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said on Wednesday. “If there is an opportunity to do so, it must not be missed!”

A forum representing the families of most Israeli hostages have published a clip in which two captives still held in Gaza described themselves as “dead men walking”. Maxim Herkin and Bar Kuperstein told the camera they “don’t feel like human beings”.

The full video calls for one overall deal, as opposed to a series of staggered releases, the format for two previous deals. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said its members “demand a comprehensive agreement that will ensure the return of every last hostage”.

The Gaza war broke out in October 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking roughly 250 hostages. The group is believed to still have some 50 hostages, with fewer than half of them thought to be alive.

The attack drew a devastating military campaign by Israel that has to date killed more than 56,000 Palestinians and wounded more than twice that number, according to health authorities in Gaza.

The war has also displaced, more than once in many case, the majority of Gaza's estimated two million residents and destroyed large swathes of built-up areas.

Mediators from the US, Qatar and Egypt have been trying in vain since March to broker a pause in the war and the release of hostages.

The only other truce in Gaza since the war began came in November 2023. It lasted a week.