Hamas negotiators in Cairo this week signaled a willingness to come back down from calls for they made final month that led to the collapse of hostage talks in Doha, an Israeli official and an Arab diplomat acquainted with the matter advised The Instances of Israel on Friday.
Arab mediators handed alongside the event to Israel, however Jerusalem responded that it’s not excited about one other partial ceasefire and is simply keen to forgo plans to take over Gaza Metropolis if Hamas agrees to all of its calls for for ending the conflict, the Israeli official mentioned.
These calls for embrace the discharge of all 50 remaining hostages, the disarmament of Hamas and the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip.
However the gaps on these points are very extensive, notably concerning the disarmament of Hamas, with the Arab mediators believing that it’s a “poison tablet” designed to explode the talks, as it’ll doubtless require ongoing intensive Israeli navy operations in Gaza so as to confirm that it’s being upheld, the Arab diplomat mentioned.
As a substitute, the Arab mediators desire a gradual method to coping with Hamas’s weapons, akin to the system that’s in place in Lebanon. Arab international locations are keen to contribute troops to this effort, supplied it’s on the invitation of the Palestinian Authority, the diplomat recalled.
However one other of Israel’s situations for ending the conflict is that the PA be barred from any governance position in Gaza, successfully stopping the Arab initiative from shifting ahead.
IDF troops function within the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza Metropolis, in a handout photograph issued on August 15, 2025. (Israel Protection Forces)
Regardless of opposition from Jerusalem, Egyptian and Qatari mediators are planning to renew talks with Hamas on Saturday with the intention of getting the phobia group’s remaining approval on an up to date proposal that’s far nearer to the one which the USA and Israel licensed final month.
Whereas this has been characterised as a partial deal, the Arab diplomat confused that it nonetheless has the potential to show right into a everlasting ceasefire if the edges maintain profitable negotiations throughout the envisioned 60-day truce. Throughout that two-month interval, 10 residing hostages and 18 our bodies shall be launched in change for an agreed-upon variety of Palestinian safety prisoners.
The US and Israel pulled their negotiators out of Doha final month attributable to frustration over Hamas’s calls for concerning the scope of the Israeli navy’s withdrawal from Gaza, the humanitarian assist mechanisms that shall be in place throughout the truce and the variety of Palestinian safety prisoners it was demanding, the Israeli official mentioned.
If Hamas offers its remaining approval of a softened proposal that comes down from these calls for within the coming days, the mediators will current it to Israel, forcing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resolve whether or not to retreat from his declarations that he’ll not settle for partial offers.
If he agrees to stroll again these assertions, the edges will nonetheless have to carry one other spherical of talks to agree on the Palestinian safety prisoners to be launched within the deal, the Arab diplomat clarified.
The Israeli official mentioned that the safety institution will doubtless urge the political management to take the deal, as it’ll safe the discharge of at the very least 10 residing hostages, whereas taking on Gaza Metropolis will danger the lives of a few of these captives, with no assure that the navy strain will lead Hamas to capitulate.
Netanyahu at the moment feels that Hamas is shopping for time by expressing curiosity to mediators in a partial deal when it’s not really critical and that solely navy strain will safe the discharge of all remaining hostages, the Israeli official added.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks throughout a press convention at his workplace in Jerusalem, August 10, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
In the meantime, Channel 12 reported that Netanyahu acquired a “dramatic” doc from who the community dubbed as a “skilled” supply concerned within the negotiations, expressing in writing Hamas’s willingness to succeed in a partial deal after the phobia group lengthy insisted that it will solely launch extra hostages in change for an up-front Israeli dedication for a everlasting ceasefire.
Whereas Hamas appeared to forgo that demand earlier this summer season, its subsequent calls for have been rejected by Israel and the US, resulting in the talks’ collapse.
The Arab diplomat argued that Israel raised new calls for of its personal in June referring to the scope of its withdrawal that led the talks to pull out earlier than the US ultimately satisfied Netanyahu to come back down from them. However by then, Hamas got here again with new calls for of its personal, and the window of alternative for a deal was missed, the diplomat mentioned.
The remaining captives held by terror organizations in Gaza embrace 49 of the 251 kidnapped by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023. They embrace the our bodies of at the very least 28 confirmed useless by the Israel Protection Forces. Twenty are believed to be alive and there are grave issues for the well-being of two others, Israeli officers have mentioned. Hamas can be holding the physique of an IDF soldier killed in Gaza in 2014.
