Hamas leader meets with Qatari and Egyptian mediators for talks on Gaza deal
Khalil al-Hayya vows terror group won’t accept new conditions for ceasefire-hostage agreement; broadcaster says Egypt thinks PM’s stance on Philadelphi route ‘a political maneuver’
Hamas said Wednesday that its negotiation team, led by Khalil al-Hayya, met Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani and Egypt’s intelligence chief Abbas Kamel to discuss the latest developments in Gaza.
The Hamas statement said the terror group group remains committed to implementing a ceasefire based on the original US proposal and won’t accept new conditions from any party, an apparent reference to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence on Israeli troops maintaining positions on the Philadelphi Corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border.
The statement made no mention of reported new Hamas demands to free prisoners serving life sentences in exchange for the first group of hostages that include, women children, the sick and the elderly.
CIA Director William Burns, who is also the chief US negotiator on Gaza, said on Saturday that a more detailed ceasefire proposal would be made in the next several days.
The original proposal put forward by US President Joe Biden in June laid out a three-phase ceasefire for ending the war sparked by Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught in return for the release of Israeli hostages.
Al-Hayya’s talks with the Egyptian and Qatari mediators came a day after Al-Thani met in Paris with the relatives of Israeli hostages, alongside National Unity MK Benny Gantz and World Jewish Congress president Ronald Lauder.
The Qatari premier told the families that Doha would continue working for a deal, according to the Haaretz daily.
“They discussed the urgent humanitarian need to advance a hostage deal, and ways in which regional stability can be promoted,” said a statement from Gantz’s office, while stressing “neither negotiation details nor the negotiation’s management were discussed. Only the official, state authorized teams are permitted to do so.”
A picture of Israeli hostage families meeting with Qatari PM Mohammad Al Thani, businessman Ronald Lauder, that took place yesterday in Paris. Also attended with families: MK Benny Gantz@kann_news pic.twitter.com/eN6e13gKDs
— Suleiman Maswadeh סולימאן מסוודה (@SuleimanMas1) September 11, 2024
Meanwhile, the Kan public broadcaster reported that Cairo believes Netanyahu’s stance on the Philadelpi route is “a political maneuver that will pass with time,” citing a source familiar with the talks.
The report added that Egypt was therefore not weighing any drastic moves, despite it’s anger at Netanyahu.
Mediators have said that Israel’s deployment in the Philadelphi Corridor is the main remaining obstacles to a deal, along with issues surrounding the release of Palestinian security prisoners.
Further harming the process is Hamas’s recent execution of six Israeli hostages, a US official said last week, explaining that they had been negotiating based on a list of hostages that has since shrunk.
It is believed that 97 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 33 confirmed dead by the IDF.
Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 37 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military as they tried to escape their captors.
Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.
