Egyptian official: ‘There are no more concessions that Hamas can be forced to make’

An Egyptian official familiar with the negotiations for a hostage-ceasefire deal in Gaza says, “There is nothing new to negotiate, and no further concessions to force Hamas to make.”

Speaking to Lebanon’s Al-Akhbar, a news outlet affiliated with Hezbollah, the unnamed official claims that the real issue is the absence of “an American-Israeli will to end the war.”

The official additionally warned that the Trump administration’s bet that Israel will be able to extract further concessions from Hamas, presumably through military force, is a “mistake.”

The report says that Egypt is backing a proposal that would see all the hostages released at once in exchange for a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and a long-term truce.

However, the outlet says there are also “discussions” for an alternative formula that would see a temporary truce of less than a year, to be implemented in two phases and with American guarantees.

It is unclear who is involved in the talks for the secondary proposal.

According to the report, that plan would include a preliminary Israeli commitment to complete the negotiating process that would eventually lead to the end of the war, with the first phase seeing Hamas handing over more than half of the living hostages and the remains of some of the captives who are dead.

The outlet does not give details on the second phase.

Hamas opposes partial or temporary truce proposals, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected plans that would see an end to the war before the complete dismantling of Hamas as a military and governing power.