Hamas has stood firm on its terms for a hostage deal as negotiators have pushed for a mini-agreement that could lead to the framework for the full release of the remaining 101 captives.
Hamas senior official Sami Abu Zuhri said on Tuesday that the group was open to discussing a deal that secures an end to the war in Gaza and a complete IDF pull-out. This has been Hamas’s consistent position.
“The movement has confirmed it is open to any deal or ideas that ends the suffering of our people in Gaza and achieves a permanent ceasefire and the occupation’s withdrawal from all of [the] Gaza Strip,” Sami Abu Zuhri said in a televised speech. He acknowledged that Hamas was studying new proposals from mediators for a hostage and ceasefire deal.
Israel and the United States had hoped that the group would relax some of those terms in the aftermath of the assassination of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar earlier this month. The US had blamed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar for the absence of a deal.
Potential of a follow-up in Egypt
Talks were held between Director of the CIA William Burns, Director of the Mossad David Barnea, and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Thani in Doha this week on the possibility of a new framework for a deal, as well as the potential for a mini-agreement that would build trust between the two sides.
Qatar and Egypt have served as the main mediators of the deal, with the help of the US. Egypt has spoken of the potential release of four hostages in exchange for a 48-hour pause to the war. Israel would accept such a deal if offered, according to Benjamin Netanyahu’s Prime Minister’s Office.
The Doha talks, along with the potential of follow-up conversations in Egypt, were the first such discussions to be held in two months and are viewed as a confidence-building measure that could lead to a larger deal.
Axios reported that the ceasefire would last for 28 days in exchange for eight hostages. A source confirmed to The Jerusalem Post that the proposal Barnea put forward in Doha “went in this direction.”
Up until the end of August, hostage negotiations had centered on a three-phase deal for the release of the 101 captives that would have seen up to 32 of them freed in exchange for a six-week pause to the war, with the remainder freed in further phases of the deal.
Hamas’s execution of six hostages, including Israeli-American captive Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, at the end of August had put an end to those talks.
'Hamas took a very hard line'
A senior US official told the Post that the negotiators had been largely stagnant for the last two months. “Hamas took a very hard line and executed six hostages. There were ongoing issues that had to be resolved,” and Hamas’s responses were not positive, the official stated.
“There was a period where there wasn’t much response,” he said. “So now the question is: how do you restart things at a moment when the situation has evolved?”
It has been helpful, the official added, that ceasefire initiatives in Gaza and Hezbollah had been separate. You can talk about how you wind things down in the north now,” the official said.
Sinwar’s death has also changed things for Hamas, the official said, adding that it “hasn’t caused Hamas to say that they’re really [ready] to turn in their weapons and release the hostages.”
Moving forward, it would be important to “establish an effective channel of communication” between the negotiators and Hamas, the official explained.
He recalled how four women, including two Americans, were freed at the end of October, just weeks after the attack.
He compared renewed talks on a mini-deal to that confidence-building measure. “I would view this initial thing through that lens,” the official said.
“We’re looking for 101 hostages to come home, those who are living to get back to their families, those who are not for respectful burial,” he stated.
The hope is that this initial deal will pave the way to a larger deal for everyone, but it is not clear yet which is the best path to bring everyone home.
“There’s very [a] serious effort to engage in restarting a process,” the official said.
The three-phase May deal, he explained, was a formula to free all the captives. “It was a way to do it, given the differences between the parties” and “the situation on the ground,” he said.
“As the situation on the ground evolves, the goal will remain the same: to get everyone out and ultimately have a cease-fire that can lead to the kind of reconstruction and development of a non-Hamas-led Gaza.
“You’ve got to start. And this is about getting started,” the official stated.