Israel and Hamas inch closer to Gaza ceasefire, but gaps remain

Proposed deal is said to provide for gradual Israeli withdrawal from enclave and staggered release of hostages

A wounded Palestinian man is taken to Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al Balah. EPA

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Israel and Hamas are inching closer to a deal to pause the 15-month war in Gaza and exchange hostages and Palestinian detainees, sources told The National on Wednesday.

The sources said mediators from the US, Egypt and Qatar have been joined in Doha by US president-elect Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. He suggested on Tuesday that a deal was imminent, after reporting “a lot of progress”.

David Barnea, head of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency and his country's chief negotiator, was scheduled to fly to Doha later on Wednesday, the sources added. There was no confirmation of his travel plans by the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“I think we're making a lot of progress, and I don't want to say too much, because I think they're doing a really good job back in Doha,” Mr Witkoff said. “I think it's the president, his stature, what he said he expects, the red lines he's put out there that's driving this negotiation.”

Mr Trump on Tuesday repeated his threat that if the estimated 100 hostages held by Hamas and its allies in Gaza were not freed before his January 20 inauguration, “all hell will break out in the Middle East".

“It will not be good for Hamas, and it will not be good, frankly, for anyone,” said Mr Trump, whose win in the November presidential election has re-energised the Gaza negotiations.

The talks have continued intermittently for the past year without producing a deal, with each side accusing the other of blocking an agreement by adhering to their conditions. But the sources aid there had been significant progress in the negotiations in Doha, with the latest proposals on the table providing for a 60-day truce, staggered release of hostages in Gaza and Israel's gradual withdrawal from the enclave, starting with the redeployment of troops to outside urban centres.

Israel has stated repeatedly it has no intention of fully withdrawing its forces from Gaza, where it insists the war must continue until Hamas is completely eradicated and all the hostages are released. Hamas says it fears Israel will resume military operations after the release of the hostages, and demands guarantees that it will agree to a permanent ceasefire, but it is not clear whether it continues to abide by these positions in the latest round of negotiations.

The first 10 days of the proposed truce, said the sources, would see Hamas releasing three female hostages as proof of goodwill in return for an as yet unspecified number of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons on security-related charges.

For the remainder of the truce, they said, Hamas would release three hostages every seven days in return for the freedom of more Palestinian detainees.

The proposed deal also provides for the entry of significant amounts of humanitarian assistance to Gaza, including up to 200,000 tents and caravans to house the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who have lost their homes in the war, which has to date killed more than 45,900 Palestinians, displaced the majority of Gaza's 2.3 million residents and reduced built-up areas to rubble.

Israel would allow the gradual return home of Palestinians displaced by the conflict, the sources added. They did not say whether Hamas has agreed to Israel's long-standing demand that the displaced undergo security screening before they are allowed back to their homes in northern Gaza.

However, senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan suggested a deal may not be imminent and blamed Israel for undermining all efforts to reach one. While declining to give details about the latest round of negotiations, he repeated Hamas conditions of “a complete end to the aggression and a full withdrawal from lands the occupation invaded”.

Commenting on Mr Trump's threat that there would be “hell to pay” unless all hostages are freed before his inauguration on January 20, Mr Hamdan told a news conference in Algiers on Tuesday that “the US president must make more disciplined and diplomatic statements".

Eden Bar Tal, director general of Israel's Foreign Ministry, said in a briefing that “Hamas is the only obstacle to the release of the hostages” and claimed his country was fully committed to reaching a deal.

The Gaza war began after an attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, that killed about 1,200 people, with 250 taken hostage. More than 100 were released by Hamas under a week-long truce in November 2023. Of the 100 still in captivity, about 40 are believed to have died, although the sources said more than 60 are alive.