Hamas says it is showing ‘flexibility’ in Gaza talks, Israel must agree to move to 2nd phase

Hamas says that it is showing “flexibility” in hostage-ceasefire deal talks with mediators, and is awaiting the outcome of efforts from Egypt, Qatar and the United States in negotiations with Israel.

“We dealt flexibly with the efforts made by mediators and [US President Donald] Trump’s envoy, and we await the results of the upcoming negotiations and oblige [Israel] to agree and go to the second phase,” the terror group says.

Hamas says negotiations are focusing on ending the war, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, and reconstruction of the Strip.

Israel is set to dispatch a delegation to Doha today for a fresh round of talks on extending the fragile ceasefire in Gaza.

The first phase of the three-phase hostage-ceasefire deal agreed to in January ended on March 1 with no agreement on subsequent stages that could secure a permanent end to the war, but both sides have since refrained from resuming full-scale fighting.

Talks regarding terms of a potential second phase were supposed to have begun on February 3, but Israel has largely refused to engage in them.

Hamas has repeatedly demanded a move to the second phase of the deal, which would include the release of the 24 remaining presumed-living hostages in exchange for a permanent end to the war. A further 35 bodies are still held by the terror group — 34 of those taken captive on October 7 and the remains of one soldier killed in 2014.

Israel and the US have sought some arrangement that would extend the first phase of the truce and see the release of further hostages, without initiating a permanent end to the war against Hamas.

US hostage envoy Adam Boehler has also been involved in separate, direct talks with Hamas that, while broadly aimed at ending the war without the terror group in power, are specifically focused on freeing Edan Alexander, an American-Israeli hostage, as well as securing the release of the bodies of slain Americans still held by the group.