Truce talks make headway but divisions remain between Israel and Hamas

The National

12 hours ago

Indirect negotiations in Qatar between Hamas and Israel to reach a Gaza truce and hostage deal have made progress but the two still remain at odds over several issues as talks continue for a second day, sources told The National on Monday.
The resumption of talks, mediated by the US, Egypt and Qatar, come before a meeting between US President Donald Trump - who has renewed a push for a ceasefire - and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.
Israel and Hamas appear to be in agreement on the core provisions of the proposed deal, including a 60-day truce, the release of 10 hostages held by Hamas along with the remains of another 18 who died in captivity.
Negotiations on the complete end to the war and full Israeli withdrawal from the enclave will begin as soon as the proposed truce goes into effect, said the sources.
The two sides also agreed on the inclusion of a plan for the armed wing of Hamas to lay down and store its arms under international supervision when a permanent ceasefire is reached, they added.
Another point of agreement is the departure of senior Hamas officials and their families from Gaza to live in exile abroad, with Israel and the US providing guarantees they would not be targeted elsewhere. They may return to Gaza after a period of time yet to determined, said the sources.
A mandate is to be set up for a council of independent technocrats to run Gaza after a truce takes effect and the flow of humanitarian assistance into the strip is to resume, where hundreds of thousands are facing hunger and shortage of basic items, said the sources.
Whether a deal will be reached still remains to be seen but the sources close to the negotiation process warn that it may not be enough to prevent the war from reigniting once again.
"It is likely to be a very fragile agreement with Israel ready to resume its military operations under any pretext," said one source. "There is also Trump's vision for Gaza's Palestinians to be resettled outside the territory. That has not been shelved."
Mr Trump's Gaza proposals to resettle Gaza's Palestinians in Egypt and Jordan and turning the coastal enclave into a beach resort have been strongly rejected by Cairo and Amman as well as the UN. The plan was announced when Mr Netanyahu first visited the White House during Mr Trump's second term in office.
Monday's meeting is expected to be dominated by the Gaza war and the aftermath of Israel's 12-day war with Iran.
Mr Trump has made clear that following the 12-day war between Israel and Iran, he would like to see the Gaza war end soon. His meeting with Mr Netanyahu could give new urgency to the talks in Qatar.
If Hamas and Israel iron out their remaining differences, Mr Trump will announce a ceasefire later on Monday, according to the sources. However, they cautioned that it was unlikely a deal would immediately go into effect. The Doha talks, they said, were likely to continue past Monday.
Asked on Friday how confident he was a Gaza ceasefire deal would come together, Mr Trump told reporters: 'I'm very optimistic — but you know, look, it changes from day to day.'
On Sunday evening, he seemed to narrow his expectation, telling reporters he thought an agreement related to the remaining hostages would be reached in the coming week.
The sources, moreover, said differences between Israel and Hamas remained.
These include Israel's opposition to the inclusion of high-profile Palestinians serving long prison terms among the estimated 1,000 Palestinians it is expected to free in return for the hostages released by Hamas.
Those Palestinian detainees include Marwan Barghouti, a senior leader of the mainstream Fatah group who has been touted as a possible replacement for President Mahmoud Abbas.
The sources also said the two sides were at odds over Israel's insistence on retaining a security role in Gaza after the end of the war, including at the so-called Salah Al Din corridor that runs the length of Gaza's border with Egypt on the Palestinian side.
Hamas is also opposed to Israeli plans to create inside Gaza a safe zone that is one kilometre deep and runs alongside the border with Israel, said the sources.
The Gaza war was caused by a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel communities on October 7, 2023 that killed about 1,200 people. The assailants also took hostage of another 250 people. Israel's response to the attack has been a devastating military campaign that has to date killed more than 56,000 Palestinians and wounded more twice that many, according to Gaza health authorities.
The war also displaced most of Gaza's 2.3 million residents and laid to waste large built-up areas.