Hamas ready to implement ceasefire without new conditions

DOHA Qatar

After meetings with Qatari and Egyptian mediators in Doha on Wednesday, Hamas released a statement assuring its “readiness” to adopt US President Joe Biden’s long-gestating ceasefire deal, originally proposed in May, as pressure grows on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to bring home Israeli hostages.

A Hamas delegation met Qatari and Egyptian mediators in Doha on Wednesday to discuss a truce in Gaza and a potential hostage and prisoner exchange, the militant group said in a statement.

Hamas said its lead negotiator Khalil al-Hayya met with Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani and Egypt’s intelligence chief Abbas Kamel.

The Palestinian goup said they had discussed “developments concerning the Palestinian cause and the aggression on the Gaza Strip” without indicating that talks had resulted in a breakthrough.

Months of behind-the-scenes negotiations mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States have failed to secure a halt to the fighting between Hamas and Israel, with the exception of a one-week truce beginning in late November.

During the sole pause in the now 11-month war, 105 hostages were released to Israel in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners under the deal struck by mediators.

Recent rounds of mediation held in Doha and Cairo have been based on a framework laid out in May by US President Joe Biden and a “bridging proposal” presented to the parties in August.

The Hamas statement reiterated its “readiness for the immediate implementation of the ceasefire agreement based on President Biden’s declaration”.

Pressure for a deal has intensified after Israeli authorities announced the deaths of six hostages at the start of September when their bodies were recovered from a Gaza tunnel.

But in the face of the external calls for an agreement, both Israel and Hamas have publicly signaled deeper entrenchment in their negotiating positions.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has doubled down in his calls for Israeli control of the so-called Philadelphi Corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border — a key sticking point in negotiations — saying it was necessary to stop Hamas from rearming.

Last week, Egypt and then Qatar rejected the charge that the border was being used to arm Hamas, accusing Netanyahu of trying to distract Israeli public opinion and obstruct a ceasefire deal.

In the statement on Wednesday, Hamas also restated its demand for Israel’s withdrawal from “all Gaza territories”.

The militant group also claimed it had not placed any further demands on negotiators and at the same time was “rejecting any new conditions to this agreement from any party”.