Hamas source says group will consider phased ceasefire if Israeli compliance guaranteed

Hamas is willing to consider a phased ceasefire agreement that would begin with a truce and include a gradual withdrawal of the Israeli forces occupying Gaza, two sources from the movement told Mada Masr this week.

The development comes as Egyptian mediators work on a new proposal for the social and security management of the strip alongside a truce between Palestinian resistance factions and Israeli forces, several other informed sources said.

A separate agreement leading to a full ceasefire would see Hamas release prisoners from Gaza in stages while Israel would gradually withdraw its forces, the sources said.

Hamas had previously insisted on a full withdrawal of the Israeli forces stationed in several areas inside Gaza, including a central corridor between the strip’s north and south as well as the border with Egypt.

One of the Hamas sources said that in the face of Israeli intransigence, Egyptian mediators had requested flexibility from Hamas.

“We want an end to the suffering of our people and to the bloodshed,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “That is why we showed this flexibility regarding some items such as gradual withdrawal and a ceasefire in stages. But we will not agree unless they are all fully achieved.”

Four sources — two in Egypt, one a regional diplomat and the other being the second Hamas source — said that Israel has also shown willingness to agree to withdrawing in phases, potentially over a long period. The withdrawals would come alongside a sequence of agreements that would allow for an eventual, comprehensive ceasefire. 

These agreements would likely entail the release of the remaining Israeli captives held in the strip. Israel has said that 97 prisoners are still in the custody of Hamas and the other resistance factions who participated in Al-Aqsa Flood operation. Israeli sources told the media this week that they had conveyed their proposal to mediators for a 60-day truce, requesting the release of the Israeli abductees in Gaza and expressing a willingness to release hundreds of Palestinian captives held by Israel as well.

The full ceasefire proposal would be established in the separate signing of a final agreement that would include Egypt, Qatar and the United States as well as the parties to the ceasefire, the four sources said.

Reuters cited an informed source on Thursday who said that Donald Trump’s envoy to the region, Steve Witkoff, had visited Qatar and Israel in November, potentially signalling Qatar’s return to the table. Doha had reportedly paused its role in mediation earlier in November.

Establishing consent from both parties to a ceasefire proposal still requires a lot of work, however. The first Hamas source said that the group has requested guarantees that the Occupation wouldn’t commit any violations in the first phase, after a number of Israeli detainees are handed over.

“The Occupation, up until this moment, is still putting off providing any guarantees or agreeing to these conditions,” he said, adding that despite all evidence to the contrary, the Occupation still imagines that it can secure a breakthrough via military pressure.

The source also noted that until this moment, the movement’s leadership has not been presented with an official paper to sign, nor has there been Israeli approval of the conditions set by the group. 

Meanwhile, Egyptian mediators working to formulate a proposal for the initial truce have secured an agreement between Hamas and Fatah on the creation of a committee that would be responsible for managing social affairs inside the Gaza Strip once an initial halt to hostilities is achieved. Hamas announced in a public statement on Thursday its agreement with Fatah to form the committee.

Dubbed the Social Support Committee, the newly conceived body would officially fall under the Palestinian Authority’s administration and would work with Hamas on the ground on issues including the distribution of aid to Palestinians in Gaza, the second Hamas source and an informed Egyptian source said. 

Egypt assembled the proposal as the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip has spiralled over recent weeks with Israel maintaining its siege and aid obstruction in the enclave. 

Israel, which currently controls all the crossings into Gaza, has refused to work with Hamas on the delivery and distribution of aid into the strip, targeting and killing much of the Hamas-affiliated police force who used to secure convoys. 

Convoys carrying supplies are now often attacked and looted, hindering aid organizations from working, leaving the majority of the strip without access to provisions and rendering the distribution of food increasingly complex and dangerous.

Egypt’s truce draft also aims to formulate agreements between the Palestinian factions for Gaza’s financial provisions, which would be based on international donations, as well as for security arrangements in the strip, which include the management of the Rafah crossing, the Egyptian and the Hamas source said. The first Hamas source said that the movement has no objection to the Palestinian Authority taking over the management of the Rafah crossing.

Egypt has worked to establish a formula “suitable for the Palestinian side” and that would be ready to present to the US after President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration in January, an Egyptian government source told Mada Masr. The source described this as a way to avoid the potential for Trump to “fully align with the Israeli position.”

A Republic senator who advises Trump on foreign policy and who recently visited the region said that the president-elect wants a conclusion to the war before he assumes office.