A Source within Hamas revealed on Wednesday, July 3, 2024, that the movement has exchanged some ideas with mediators aimed at halting the war on the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, Israeli Mossad stated it received a response from Hamas regarding a prisoner exchange deal.
Hamas also stated that its political bureau chief, Ismail Haniyeh, has been in contact with Egypt and Qatar regarding the ideas being discussed by the movement with them to reach a ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
The movement said in a statement: “Haniyeh conducted contacts in the past hours with the mediation brothers in Qatar and Egypt regarding the ideas being discussed by the movement with them to reach an agreement to put an end to the brutal aggression against our resilient people in the Gaza Strip.”
In response, Israel’s foreign intelligence service (Mossad) indicated that the mediators conveyed Hamas’s response to the prisoner exchange proposal to the negotiating team, which Tel Aviv will study, according to a statement by Mossad published by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office via the “X” platform.
In response to this, Israeli Channel 12 reported that “the broad outlines of the deal were formulated before the Israeli army took control of the Philadelphi Corridor in Rafah (south), and thus, even if Hamas agrees, there is expected to be a fundamental disagreement regarding the continued presence of the Israeli army in the corridor.”
The channel quoted an unnamed Israeli political source as saying, “Even if Hamas responds positively to the broad outlines, negotiations are expected to take a long time.”
Last week, Netanyahu sparked a political storm and anger among families of prisoners when he told his closely affiliated Channel 14 that he was ready for a partial deal to retrieve some prisoners held in Gaza, emphasizing the necessity to resume war after the ceasefire to achieve its goals.
However, Netanyahu later retracted his statements, stating before the Knesset (Parliament): “We will not end the war until we bring back all the living and deceased abductees, and we are committed to the Israeli proposal welcomed by President Joe Biden.”
In late May, Biden announced Israel’s presentation of a new three-stage agreement proposal, including “prisoner exchange” in the first two stages, “sustaining the ceasefire” in the second stage, and “rebuilding Gaza” in the third stage.
Through Qatar, Egypt, and the United States, Palestinian factions in Gaza and Israel have been conducting indirect, stalled negotiations for months to reach an agreement, which would be the second of its kind since the outbreak of the war on October 7, 2023, resulting in more than 125,000 Palestinian deaths and injuries, mostly children and women, and over 10,000 missing amid massive destruction and famine claiming the lives of dozens of children.
Israel continues this war, disregarding immediate cessation calls by the United Nations Security Council and International Court of Justice orders to end the Rafah incursion, take measures to prevent genocide, and improve the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.
