Hamas is softening demands for a permanent ceasefire in ceasefire talks, officials say

Hamas is no longer demanding that Israel immediately agree to a permanent ceasefire in return for initiating a hostage and prisoner exchange, people familiar with the negotiations said.

Hamas’ new proposal would allow the release of hostages in return for a phased withdrawal of Israeli forces from parts of the Gaza Strip and the release of prisoners. By adjusting demands for an outright end to hostilities, the new proposal could potentially restart negotiations.

The White House welcomed Hamas’s new proposal and confirmed that talks would resume soon in Doha, Qatar, albeit without a US delegation present. “We are cautiously optimistic that things are moving in the right direction, but that doesn’t mean it’s done and we’ll have to see it through to the end,” said John F. Kirby, a national security communications adviser. for the White House.

The United States is putting pressure on Hamas to resume talks and relax its demands. Several negotiating parties have offered Gaza more promises of humanitarian aid and made vague threats to close Hamas’s political office in Doha.

While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel publicly denounced the new proposal, other Israeli officials have reacted more positively, with Hamas refusing to offer terms for a hostage situation last week.

Negotiators, including senior Israeli intelligence officials, could arrive in Doha as early as Sunday, according to an official in the region.

Although he said he did not want to negotiate from the White House podium, Mr. Kirby suggested that Hamas’s proposal fit within the framework agreed to by Israel, Qatar, Egypt and the United States in Paris last month.

“I would say that the proposal that has been put forward is certainly within the confines of – broadly speaking – within the confines of the deal that we have been working on for several months,” he said. “But the devil is in the details.”

Another US official and the official in the region said that while rifts between the warring sides need to be closed, the new proposal was the first positive step in a long time, and that it was significant that Hamas would no longer have a permanent ceasefire fire demanded.

The first phase of a deal, under Hamas’s proposal, would see Israeli forces withdraw toward central Gaza, allowing some civilians to return to their homes, an Israeli official briefed on the proposal said.

Under the Hamas proposal, Israel would have to agree to the release of more Palestinians from prison than the US-backed proposal had offered.

The first hostage exchange would involve the remaining five female hostages, in addition to 35 men who are old, sick or injured. Hamas demands the release of 350 Palestinian prisoners for the men. It wants fifty prisoners for each of the women, including thirty sentenced to life in prison. The earlier American-backed proposal stated that 15 prisoners convicted of serious terrorist acts would be released before the female prisoners.

The first phase would last several weeks. During the second phase, male prisoners would be released in exchange for a further cessation of hostilities. In the final phase, Hamas would return the bodies of dead hostages and Israel would relax the blockade of Gaza, according to Hamas’s proposal.

Israel has resisted any agreement to end its military campaign. US officials have pushed for exchanges in return for a temporary halt to fighting, saying it is the only formula that can work.

Details of the Hamas proposal were Al Jazeera reported this earlier.

The various sides had been discussing for weeks a broader three-phase approach to the release of all hostages held by Hamas and its allies, including the bodies of deceased hostages. Israel and the United States wanted to focus negotiations on the first phase, which would involve the release of certain hostages of a number of Palestinian prisoners. But as part of these targeted talks, Hamas had insisted that Israel commit to a permanent ceasefire after all three phases, which became a major point of contention as Israel refuses to join it.

Edward Wong contributed reporting from Washington.