A Hamas official told CNN yesterday that several points of disagreement remain between the movement and Israel. These include Hamas’s demands that Israel withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor and commit to a permanent ceasefire rather than a temporary halt to military operations.
According to the American network, disagreement also remains over the buffer zone proposed by Israel along Gaza’s eastern and northern borders with Israel. The official said that Hamas wants the buffer zone to return to the pre-7 October size of 300-500 metres from the fence separating Israel from the enclave, while Israel is demanding a much greater depth of 2,000 metres.
The Hamas official said: “We believe this means that 60km [37 miles] of the Gaza Strip will remain under their control, and displaced people will not return to their homes.”
Two Israeli sources and a “foreign source” claimed that the mediators in the ceasefire negotiations and prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas are awaiting Hamas’s response to the draft that Qatar delivered to both sides, according to reports by Israel’s Walla website on Monday.
READ: ‘Distinct possibility that we can get’ Gaza deal done this week, says US’ Sullivan
The two Israeli sources anticipated that Hamas’s response would come within the day, with one source adding: “It seems that we are heading towards a deal. Israel has been very flexible on a number of issues in recent days, but we are awaiting Hamas’ response, and only then will we know for sure.”
According to Israel’s Channel 12, the mediators asked Hamas to submit its response to the draft deal by midnight tonight.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan stated that, “we are so close to a ceasefire and hostage deal, and I think there is a very distinct possibility that we get it across the line this week, before President Biden leaves office.”
“President Biden gave us direction to work closely with the incoming team so that there were not different messages being sent,” he added, referring to President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration.
This comes after an official familiar with the prisoner exchange negotiations in Doha reported yesterday that Qatar had delivered a “final draft” to Israel and Hamas for a ceasefire and the release of captives with the aim of ending the war on Gaza.
He added that the breakthrough was achieved in Doha, after midnight, following talks between the heads of the Israeli intelligence services, President-elect Donald Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, and the Qatari Prime Minister, Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, according to Reuters.
The head of the Israeli opposition, Yair Lapid, announced that he met with a Qatari official in Paris who is working on the captives’ issue, noting that he later held a meeting between the Qatari officials and families of the captives.
“The senior Qatari official reported to us about the actual situation of the hostage deal. I can’t go into all the details, but we learned from him that a deal is possible, and at this stage, Hamas is not interested in torpedoing it,” he added, noting that they later learned that far-right members of Israel’s Knesset, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, announced that they do not want the deal.
“I want to remind Netanyahu again; he doesn’t need them. I offered him a political safety net for a hostage deal. This offer is valid now more than ever. If Netanyahu wants to and can make a deal, he and I know how to close the details of the safety net in half an hour,” he continued.
Israeli Finance Minister Smotrich described the prisoner exchange deal as a “surrender deal” and a “catastrophe,” after he and National Security Minister Ben-Gvir met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who presented them with the proposed deal reached during the negotiations in Doha.
Smotrich said that he and his Religious Zionism Party believe the deal is a “catastrophe for Israeli national security.”
“We will not be part of a surrender deal that would include releasing terrorists, stopping the war and dissolving the achievements that were bought with much blood, and abandoning many hostages.”
Smotrich claimed: “This is the time to continue with all our might, to occupy and cleanse the entire Strip, to finally take control of humanitarian aid from Hamas, and to open the gates of hell on Gaza until Hamas surrenders completely and all the hostages are returned.”