Hamas says ready to discuss Gaza deal without ‘permanent’ ceasefire

“This step was bypassed because the (Qatari) mediators promised that as long as negotiations over prisoners continued, the ceasefire would continue,” a senior Hamas official told AFP.

According to the Associated Press, the group is ready to drop its demand that any ceasefire deal be permanent.

Hamas had already set a permanent ceasefire as a precondition for starting negotiations on a hostage exchange.

Two officials from the Palestinian group also told Reuters on Sunday that Hamas was waiting for a response from Israel to a ceasefire proposal.

“We have left our response to the mediators and are waiting to hear the response from the occupation,” one of the officials said, five days after Hamas agreed to key elements of a US truce plan.

The three-phase plan, proposed by US President Joe Biden and brokered by Qatar and Egypt, aims to end the war and free around 120 Israeli prisoners held in Gaza.

Another Palestinian official familiar with the truce negotiations said Israel was in talks with the Qataris.

“They discussed with them Hamas’ response and promised to give them Israel’s response in the coming days,” the official told Reuters.

According to the Haaretz daily, citing an anonymous source, Israel has presented new demands in the ongoing ceasefire negotiations, after Hamas accepted the latest conditions. The new Israeli demands could delay the agreement, the daily adds.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that any ceasefire agreement reached must allow his country to continue fighting in Gaza until war aims are achieved.

Netanyahu listed – in a statement – the five conditions posed by Israel which, according to him, are not negotiable for reaching an agreement with Hamas.

He said the deal must prohibit the smuggling of weapons to Hamas through the Gaza-Egypt border, and must not allow thousands of fighters to return to the northern Gaza Strip.

Israel will also “maximize” the number of live captives returned, the statement added.

Months of ceasefire negotiations have stalled over Hamas’s demand that any deal include a complete end to the war. Netanyahu has offered to suspend fighting but not stop it until Israel achieves its goals of destroying Hamas’ military and government capabilities and returning all hostages held by the group.

Israel, which is flouting a United Nations Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, has faced international condemnation over its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since the October 7 Hamas attack.

More than 38,000 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and more than 87,700 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Nearly nine months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lie in ruins, due to a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Human rights groups have warned that thousands of people in the besieged enclave face the risk of starvation due to the ongoing devastating Israeli attack.