Hamas Open to Hostage Talks Without Permanent Ceasefire

A Hamas official stated that the Palestinian group is willing to discuss a hostage release deal with Israel, even without a “complete” ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

This shift in Hamas’ stance comes as diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire and release hostages gain momentum, with new proposals and meetings hosted by Qatari and Egyptian mediators.

“Hamas had previously required Israel to agree to a complete and permanent ceasefire,” the official told AFP as the war entered its 10th month.

However, mediators have provided assurances “that as long as the… negotiations continued, the ceasefire would continue,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Israel, which pledged to destroy Hamas following the group’s October 7 attack that sparked the war, has consistently rejected calls for a permanent ceasefire.

U.S. President Joe Biden announced a plan in late May that included an initial six-week truce and the exchange of hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners in Israel.

Although talks quickly stalled, a U.S. official said Thursday that a new response from Hamas “moves the process forward and may provide the basis for closing the deal.”

Egypt’s state-linked Al-Qahera News reported late Saturday that Cairo was “hosting Israeli and American delegations,” with mediators in contact with Hamas amid “intensive Egyptian meetings this week with all parties.”

In Israel, anti-government protesters demanding a hostage release deal blocked traffic in Tel Aviv on a nationwide “disruption day” at 6:29 am, the time Hamas launched their attack on October 7.

Data scientist Yoni Peleg, 34, said protesters were crying “out for help… to end the war” and pressuring Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to secure the release of the remaining hostages.

Israel has indicated it will send a delegation to continue talks with Qatari mediators, though a government spokesman said Friday there were still “gaps” with Hamas.

An official familiar with the mediation said U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director William Burns would also visit Qatar this week.

A statement from Netanyahu’s office on Sunday said that “any deal will allow Israel to return and fight until all the goals of the war are achieved.”

– Schools Hit –

Hamas’ unprecedented October 7 attack on southern Israel reportedly resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

The militants captured 251 hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza, including 42 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel has conducted a military offensive that has killed at least 38,153 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

Witnesses reported strikes and shelling in the central Bureij refugee camp, the far-southern city of Rafah, and other parts of Gaza.

Medics and rescuers said at least nine people were killed in three strikes in central Gaza and Gaza City, in the northern part of the coastal territory.

An AFP correspondent reported that Israeli drones were firing in Gaza City’s Shujaiya district, which has experienced intense battles for nearly two weeks.

The Israeli military stated that in Shujaiya, its troops killed “several” militants and dismantled militant infrastructure.

On Sunday, the Israeli military issued an evacuation order for a nearby area of Gaza City. Similar orders in the past have often preceded military incursions.

Israeli forces were also “conducting operations” in Rafah and around the municipality building in neighboring Khan Yunis, which, according to the Israeli military, was being used by Hamas fighters.

The latest toll from the Gaza health ministry includes 16 people killed Saturday in a strike on a U.N.-run school turned shelter in central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp.

Another strike on Sunday on a church-run school in Gaza City, also sheltering displaced Palestinians, killed at least four people, said the civil defense agency.

Israel’s military stated that militants had operated in the area of both schools.

The army announced that a soldier was killed in southern Gaza, adding to a military toll of more than 320 since ground operations began in late October.