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27-04-2025
CAIRO: Hamas is open to a years-long truce with Israel in Gaza but is not willing to lay down its arms, an official said on Saturday, as leaders of the Palestinian Islamist militant group met mediators in Cairo for ceasefire talks.
Sources close to the talks told media Hamas hoped to build support among mediators for its offer, adding the group might agree to a five to seven-year truce in return for ending the war, allowing for the rebuilding of Gaza, the freeing of Palestinians jailed by Israel and the release of all hostages.
“The idea of a truce or its duration is not rejected by us, and we are ready to discuss it within the framework of negotiations. We are open to any serious proposals to end the war,” said Taher Al-Nono, the media adviser for the Hamas leadership, in the first clear signal that the group was open to a longer-term truce.
However, Nono ruled out a core Israeli demand that Hamas lay down its arms. Israel wants to see Gaza demilitarized. “The weapon of resistance is not negotiable and will remain in our hands as long as the occupation exists,” Nono said.
Hamas’ founding charter calls for Israel’s destruction, but it has signaled in the past that it might agree to a long-term truce in return for ending Israeli occupation.
Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel downplayed chances this week for the new proposal to lead to a breakthrough unless Israel’s core demands were met.
“The war could end tomorrow if Hamas released the remaining 59 hostages and laid down its weapons,” Haskel said in Jerusalem on Tuesday.
Israel resumed its offensive in Gaza on March 18 after a January ceasefire collapsed, saying it would keep up pressure on Hamas until it frees the remaining hostages still held in the enclave. Up to 24 of them are believed to still be alive.
Israel has blocked all aid into Gaza and hundreds of thousands have been displaced as its forces have seized territories it has designated as a buffer zone. More than 2,000 Palestinians, many of them civilians, have been killed in Israeli strikes since, according to health authorities.
The war was triggered by Hamas’ October 7 2023 attack which killed 1,200 people, and saw 251 hostages taken to Gaza. Since then, more than 51,400 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza, according to local health officials.
Hamas has expressed its willingness to reach an agreement to end the war in Gaza, which includes a one-time release of all remaining hostages in exchange for a five-year ceasefire, a Hamas official in the terrorist organization told media.
The source noted that “Hamas is ready for a one-time prisoner exchange in exchange for a five-year cessation of hostilities,” as a delegation from the organization departed for Cairo for meetings with Egyptian officials.
A Hamas delegation, led by Khalil al-Hayya, is expected to present the organization’s vision for ending the fighting to Egypt on Saturday. Taher al-Nono, another senior Hamas official, made it clear earlier that the organization’s weapons are “not open to negotiation” in the talks. Three Hamas officials, according to N12, confirmed that the group would be willing to hand over its weapons to the next group ruling the enclave. While this stance is not shared by the entirety of the terror group, it reportedly suggests that some of Hamas’s senior leadership are open to disarming. However, an official of the terrorist organization said Saturday that Hamas is open to a years-long truce with Israel in Gaza but is not willing to lay down its arms.
“Hamas commanders in the Gaza Strip are feeling heavy pressure from the local population to take such a step,” Hamas sources told N12. “This is in the knowledge that no serious aid will be received for the reconstruction of the region and that Arab countries will not send battalions for policing missions in the Gaza Strip, as long as Hamas remains an armed underground.” (Int’l News Desk)
