Hamas says on war anniversary it’s ready to reach a Gaza deal, but conditions remain

Hamas said on Tuesday it was ready to reach a deal to end the war in Gaza based on Donald Trump’s plan but still has demands, as the Qatari Prime Minister and senior U.S. mediators headed to Egypt to join indirect negotiations there between the Palestinian group and Israel.

On the second anniversary of the Palestinian militant group’s attack on Israel that triggered the Gaza war, Trump expressed optimism about progress toward a Gaza deal. A U.S. team including special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and his Middle East envoy during his first term, left for the talks.

“I think there’s a possibility that we could have peace in the Middle East” beyond just Gaza, the U.S. president told reporters in the Oval Office.

A source close to the talks said they had adjourned for the day and the atmosphere had been better than on Monday. Negotiations on Wednesday would be a decisive indicator of whether progress was possible given the presence of the senior mediators, the source said.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani will join the talks on Wednesday, an official told Reuters, “with the aim of pushing forward the Gaza ceasefire plan and hostage release agreement”.

On the second day of talks in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, top Hamas leader Khalil Al-Hayya told Egyptian state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV the group had come “to engage in serious and responsible negotiations.”

He said Hamas was ready to reach a deal, yet it needed a “guarantee” to end the war and ensure “it is not repeated”.

According to Gaza authorities, tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed and Gaza devastated since the October 7, 2023 attack by Palestinian militants on Israel. Israel says 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken back to Gaza as hostages on that day.

The talks appear to hold the most promise yet of ending the war. But officials on all sides urged caution over the prospects for a rapid agreement, as Israelis remembered the bloodiest single day for Jews since the Holocaust and Gazans voiced hope for an end to the suffering brought by two years of war.

Even if a deal is clinched, questions will linger over who will govern Gaza and rebuild it, and who will finance the huge cost of reconstruction. Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have ruled out any role for Hamas.

HAMAS SETS OUT CONDITIONS

“The (Hamas) movement’s delegation participating in the current negotiations in Egypt is working to overcome all obstacles to reaching an agreement that meets the aspirations of our people in Gaza,” senior Hamas official Fawzi Barhoum said in a televised statement.

He said a deal must ensure an end to the war and a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip – conditions that Israel has never accepted. Israel, for its part, wants Hamas to disarm, something the group rejects.

Hamas wants a permanent, comprehensive ceasefire, a complete pullout of Israeli forces and the immediate start of a comprehensive reconstruction process under the supervision of a Palestinian “national technocratic body”, he said.

Underlining the obstacles at talks, an umbrella of Palestinian factions including Hamas issued a statement vowing a “resistance stance by all means” and saying “no one has the right to cede the weapons of the Palestinian people”.

Netanyahu did not immediately comment on the status of the talks.

U.S. officials have suggested they want to initially focus talks on a halt to the fighting and the logistics of how the hostages and Palestinian prisoners in Israel would be freed.

Ibrahim Kalin, the head of Turkey’s MIT intelligence agency, will also take part in the ceasefire negotiations in Sharm el-Sheikh on Wednesday, according to a Turkish security source.

In the absence of a ceasefire, Israel has pressed on with its offensive in Gaza, increasing its international isolation.

Opponents of Israel’s actions in Gaza held protests in Sydney, Australia and a handful of European cities on the anniversary of Hamas’ attack, despite denunciations by politicians who said such marches risked glorifying violence.

HOPES OF A BREAKTHROUGH BY CIVILIANS ON BOTH SIDES

On the anniversary, some Israelis visited the places that were hit hardest that day.

Orit Baron stood at the site of the Nova music festival in southern Israel beside a photo of her daughter Yuval, who was killed with her fiance Moshe Shuva. They were among 364 people who were shot, bludgeoned or burned to death there.

“They were supposed to get married on February 14th, Valentine’s Day. And both of the families decided because actually they were found (dead) together and they brought them to us together (that) the funeral will be together,” said Baron.

“They are buried next to each other because they were never separated.”

Israelis are hoping the talks in Sharm el-Sheikh will soon lead to the release of all the 48 hostages still held in Gaza, 20 of whom are believed to still be alive.

“It’s like an open wound, the hostages, I can’t believe it’s been two years and they are still not home,” said Hilda Weisthal, 43.

In Gaza, 49-year-old Palestinian Mohammed Dib hoped for the end of a conflict that has caused a humanitarian disaster, displaced many Palestinians multiple times and killed more than 67,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.

“It’s been two years that we are living in fear, horror, displacement and destruction,” he said.

In the latest violence, residents of Khan Younis in southern Gaza and Gaza City in the north reported new attacks by Israeli tanks, planes and boats in the early hours of Tuesday.

The Israeli military said militants in Gaza fired rockets into Israel, setting off air raid sirens at Israeli kibbutz Netiv Haasara, and that Israeli troops continued to tackle gunmen inside the enclave.