Cairo, Egypt – Hamas said on Saturday that there were “positive” signs regarding the start of negotiations for the second phase of the fragile Gaza ceasefire, as a delegation from the Palestinian militant group met with mediators in Cairo.
On Saturday, a high-level Hamas delegation held talks with Egyptian officials over the second phase of the ceasefire. The truce has largely halted more than 15 months of fighting in Gaza.
In the statement, Al-Qanoua spoke of the “necessity of obligating the mediators to ensure Israel implements the agreement,” adding that: “Hamas affirms its readiness to begin negotiations for the second phase to meet the demands of our Palestinian people.”
Under the first phase, Gaza militants handed over 25 living hostages and eight bodies in exchange for the release of about 1,800 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.
Of the 251 captives taken during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the war, 58 remain in the Palestinian territory, including 34 the Israeli military has confirmed are dead.
Israel halts Gaza electricity supply ahead of new truce talks
Israel ordered an immediate halt to Gaza’s electricity supply Sunday in an effort to pressure Hamas into releasing the remaining hostages, even as it prepared for fresh talks on the future of its truce with the Palestinian militants.
“We will use all the tools at our disposal to bring back the hostages and ensure that Hamas is no longer in Gaza the day after” the war, he said.
Just days after the war erupted on October 7, 2023 after Hamas’s attack, Israel cut electricity to Gaza, only restoring it in mid-2024.
The sole power line between Israel and Gaza supplies the main desalination plant, and Gazans mainly rely now on solar panels and fuel-powered generators to produce electricity.
Public Broadcaster Kan reported Monday Israel has drafted plans to ramp up pressure under a scheme dubbed the “Hell Plan”. This included following up the aid block with “displacing residents from the northern Gaza Strip to the south, halting the supply of electricity and a resumption of full-scale fighting”.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians now live in tents across Gaza, with nighttime temperatures often falling to zero degrees Celsius.
Hamas representatives met mediators in Cairo over the weekend, emphasising the urgent need to resume aid deliveries “without restrictions or conditions”, a Hamas statement said.
“We call on mediators in Egypt and Qatar, as well as the guarantors in the US administration, to ensure that the occupation complies with the agreement… and proceeds with the second phase according to the agreed-upon terms,” spokesman Hazem Qassem, told AFP.
Hamas’s key demands for the second phase include a hostage-prisoner exchange, Israel’s complete withdrawal from Gaza, a permanent ceasefire, border crossings reopening and lifting the blockade, he said.
After meeting mediators, another Hamas spokesman, Abdel Latif al-Qanoua, said indicators were so far “positive”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said it would send delegates to Doha on Monday.
‘Among dogs and rats’
The truce largely halted more than 15 months of fighting in Gaza, where virtually the entire population was displaced by Israel’s relentless military campaign in response to the October 7 attack.
The six-week first phase led to the exchange of 25 living Israeli hostages and eight bodies for the release of about 1,800 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.
It also allowed in much-needed food, shelter and medical assistance.
After Israel cut off the aid flow, UN rights experts accused the government of “weaponising starvation”.
“To date, only 10 percent of the required medical supplies have been allowed in, exacerbating the crisis,” Gaza health ministry spokesman Khalil al-Dakran said.
Displaced Palestinian widow Haneen al-Dura told AFP she and her children spent weeks living on the street “among dogs and rats” before receiving a tent.
Fears for hostages
Last week, US President Donald Trump threatened further destruction of Gaza if all remaining hostages were not released, issuing what he called a “last warning” to Hamas leaders.
He also alluded to repercussions for all Gazans, telling them: “A beautiful Future awaits, but not if you hold Hostages. If you do, you are DEAD!”
The threats came after his administration confirmed it had unprecedented direct talks with Hamas, which Washington had previously refused contact with since designating it a terrorist organisation in 1997.
Of the 251 hostages taken by the Palestinian militants during the October 7 attack, 58 remain in Gaza, including five Americans of which four have been confirmed dead.
Trump has floated a widely condemned plan to expel Palestinians from Gaza, and on Sunday Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that proposal was “taking shape”.
Trump’s plan prompted Arab leaders to offer an alternative that would see reconstruction financed through a trust fund, with the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority returning to govern Gaza.
Hamas’s attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,458 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The UN considers these figures reliable.
US envoy says Gaza hostage deal possible ‘within weeks’
Israel invaded Gaza in response, waging a relentless war for more than 15 months and displacing much of the population.
The first phase of a truce revolving around the release of some hostages ended earlier this month, and both sides are disputing when to move into the second phase, which aims at a more permanent peace.
Last week, US President Donald Trump threatened further destruction of Gaza if all remaining hostages were not released, issuing what he called a “last warning” to Hamas leaders.
Vow to bring Tice home
“I understand the consternation and the concern” on Israel’s part at the talks, Boehler said, adding: “We’re the United States. We’re not an agent of Israel.”
He described his feelings on sitting across from the militants.
“I think when you walk and you sit in front of somebody, and you know what they’ve done, it’s hard not to think of it,” he said.
He said it was important to identify with their humanity, but admitted, “It definitely feels a little odd knowing what they really are.”
Hamas’s attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,458 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The UN considers these figures reliable.
Boehler said he felt a “long-term truce” was “a reality. It’s real close.”
Boehler also promised to go to Syria to bring home Austin Tice, an American journalist kidnapped there in 2012.
Tice was working as a freelance journalist for Agence France-Presse, The Washington Post, and other media outlets when he was detained at a checkpoint in August 2012.
The toppling of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in December by rebels had ignited fresh hopes that Tice might be released and brought home.
Boehler said he did not know if Tice was still alive.
“I’m going to go to Syria, and I’m going to do the best I can to find out,” he told CNN.
“If he’s there, I’m going to bring him home. If he’s dead, I’m going to dig up his remains with the FBI… and we’ll bring them home to his mom.”
