US envoy Witkoff to discuss Gaza truce details with mediators in Rome
Mediators have been shuttling between Israeli and Hamas negotiators in Qatar for more than two weeks but the indirect talks have so far failed to yield a truce. Hamas has confirmed it had handed over a new proposal but did not disclose its contents, and Israel has said it was studying it.
The sources said one of the issues at the top of the agenda in Rome were US and Israeli guarantees that Hamas leaders who leave the enclave with their families would not be targeted in exile. They will also discuss the period of time they will need to live abroad before being able to return to Gaza.
The talks will also touch on the future of Hamas's investments outside Gaza, which are believed to be centred in the Middle East, said the sources.
Israel opposes the proposed release of several high-profile Palestinians held in Israeli jails as part of the deal. Hamas has also called on Israel to release the bodies of late leader Yahya Sinwar and other top officials killed by Israel during the 21-month-old war.
The sources said Hamas's demand for a long-term ceasefire was no longer on the table. Instead, the US will guarantee at least one equal extension of the 60-day truce when it expires to allow for more discussions on the political and security arrangements in Gaza after the war.
Hamas has already said it would not be part of governing or rebuilding Gaza and suggested it was open to laying down its arms and storing them under international supervision when a long-term ceasefire is in effect.
Israel, meanwhile, was on Thursday reviewing Hamas's response to the proposed deal, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office.
Both sides are facing huge pressure at home and abroad to reach an agreement, with the humanitarian conditions inside Gaza deteriorating sharply amid widespread acute hunger that has shocked the world.
A senior Israeli official was quoted by local media as saying the new Hamas response was something Israel could work with. However, Israel's Channel 12 said a rapid deal was not in reach, with gaps remaining between the two sides including over where the Israeli army should withdraw to during any truce.
A Palestinian official close to the talks told Reuters the latest Hamas position was 'flexible, positive and took into consideration the growing suffering in Gaza and the need to stop the starvation'.
Bishara Bahbah, a Palestinian-American who has been part of the US mediation team, described Hamas's response as 'realistic and positive'.
'Now, Israel must enter serious and swift negotiations to reach a ceasefire. Everyone is waiting for a breakthrough. The people of Gaza have suffered so much from the killings, destruction and hunger,' he wrote on Facebook.
The Gaza war was sparked when Hamas attacked southern Israel communities in October 2023, killing 1,200 and taking another 250 hostage. Israel's response has been a devastating military campaign that has to date killed close to 60,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry.
Most of Gaza's estimated 2 million residents have been displaced by the war, more than once in many cases, and swathes of built-up areas have been reduced to rubble.
If the latest round of negotiations yields a truce, it would be the third ceasefire since the war began. A two-month break in the fighting collapsed on March 18, when Israel resumed military operations, killing some 400 people on the first day. A week-long truce ended on December 1, 2023.
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