Hamas says on war anniversary it’s serious about Gaza deal, but conditions remain
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Smoke rises from explosions in Gaza, as seen from southern Israel, on Oct 7.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt - Hamas said on Oct 7 it was ready to reach a deal to end the war in Gaza based on US President Donald Trump’s plan but still has demands, as Qatar’s prime minister and senior US mediators headed to Egypt to join indirect negotiations between the Palestinian militant group and Israel.
On the second anniversary of Hamas’ attack on Israel that triggered the Gaza war, Mr Trump expressed optimism
A US team including special envoy Steve Witkoff and Mr Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and his Middle East envoy during his first term, left for the talks.
“I think there’s a possibility that we could have peace in the Middle East” beyond just Gaza, the US president told reporters in the Oval Office.
A source close to the talks said they had adjourned for the day and the atmosphere had been better than on Oct 6.
Negotiations on Oct 8 would be a decisive indicator of whether progress was possible given the presence of the senior mediators, the source said.
Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani of Qatar, which has been one of the key mediators, will join the talks on Oct 8, an official told Reuters, “with the aim of pushing forward the Gaza ceasefire plan and hostage release agreement”.
On the second day of talks in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, top Hamas leader Khalil Al-Hayya told Egyptian state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV the group had come “to engage in serious and responsible negotiations.”
He said Hamas was ready to reach a deal, yet it needed a “guarantee” to end the war and ensure “it is not repeated”.
According to the Gaza authorities, some 67,000 people have been killed and Gaza devastated since the Oct 7, 2023 attack by Palestinian militants
Israel says 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken back to Gaza as hostages on that day.
The talks appeared to hold the most promise yet of ending the war.
But officials on all sides urged caution over the prospects for a rapid agreement, as Israelis remembered the bloodiest single day for the Jews since the Holocaust and Gazans voiced hope for an end to the suffering brought by the war.
Even if a deal is clinched, questions will linger over who will govern Gaza and rebuild it, and who will finance the huge cost of reconstruction.
Mr Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have ruled out any role for Hamas.
Hamas sets out conditions
Mr Trump met Mr Witkoff and Mr Kushner, who will join the talks on Oct 8, for an update on the negotiations before they departed for Egypt, a senior US official said.
They discussed issues such as ensuring the safety of the hostages and security guarantees, the official added.
“The (Hamas) movement’s delegation participating in the current negotiations in Egypt is working to overcome all obstacles to reaching an agreement that meets the aspirations of our people in Gaza,” senior Hamas official Fawzi Barhoum said in a televised statement.
He said a deal must ensure an end to the war and a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip - conditions that Israel has never accepted. Israel, for its part, wants Hamas to disarm, something the group rejects.
Hamas wants a permanent, comprehensive ceasefire, a complete pullout of Israeli forces and the immediate start of a comprehensive reconstruction process under the supervision of a Palestinian “national technocratic body”, he said.
Underlining the obstacles at talks, an umbrella of Palestinian factions including Hamas issued a statement vowing a “resistance stance by all means” and saying “no one has the right to cede the weapons of the Palestinian people”.
Mr Netanyahu did not immediately comment on the status of the talks. But in a statement on X, he told Israelis they were in “fateful days of decision.”
“We will continue to act to achieve all the war’s objectives: the return of all the hostages, the elimination of Hamas’s rule, and the assurance that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel,” he said.
US officials have suggested they want to initially focus talks on a halt to the fighting and the logistics of how the hostages and Palestinian prisoners in Israel would be freed.
In the absence of a ceasefire, Israel has pressed on with its offensive in Gaza, which has increased its international isolation.
Global outrage has mounted against Israel’s assault, which has internally displaced nearly Gaza’s entire population and set-off a starvation crisis.
Multiple rights experts, scholars and a UN inquiry say it amounts to genocide. Israel calls its actions self-defence after the 2023 Hamas attack.
Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrated around the world on Oct 7 against Israel’s war in Gaza, while vigils and other events commemorated Israeli victims on the second anniversary of the Hamas attack.
Protests in support of Palestinians and those killed in Gaza along with vigils remembering victims of the Hamas attack took place in Sydney, Istanbul, London and Washington as well as in New York City, Paris, Geneva, Athens and Stockholm.
At the White House on Oct 7, Mr Trump hosted Mr Edan Alexander, who was believed to be the last surviving US hostage held in Gaza when the dual Israeli-US citizen was handed over by Hamas in May.
Hopes of a breakthrough by civilians on both sides
On the anniversary, some Israelis visited the places that were hit hardest that day.
Ms Orit Baron stood at the site of the Nova music festival in southern Israel beside a photo of her daughter Yuval, who was killed with her fiance Moshe Shuva.
They were among 364 people who were shot, bludgeoned or burned to death there.
“They were supposed to get married on Feb 14th, Valentine’s Day. And both of the families decided because actually they were found (dead) together and they brought them to us together (that) the funeral will be together,” said Ms Baron.
“They are buried next to each other because they were never separated.”
Israelis are hoping the talks will soon lead to the release of all the 48 hostages still held in Gaza, 20 of whom are believed to still be alive.
“It's like an open wound, the hostages, I can't believe it's been two years and they are still not home,” said Ms Hilda Weisthal, 43.
In Gaza, 49-year-old Palestinian Mohammed Dib hoped for the end of a conflict that has caused a humanitarian disaster, displaced many Palestinians multiple times.
“It’s been two years that we are living in fear, horror, displacement and destruction,” he said. REUTERS
