Hamas signals hostage talks sans ceasefire

20 dead in Israeli attacks on two schools

GAZA:

A top Hamas official told AFP on Sunday that the Palestinian militants were ready to discuss a hostage deal and an end to the Gaza war without a “complete and permanent ceasefire”.

The apparent easing of the Hamas position comes amid renewed mediation efforts by the United States, Qatar and Egypt to tempt the rivals into talks to halt nine months of war and secure a deal to release hostages held by Hamas and prisoners detained by Israel.

“Hamas had previously required that Israel agree to a complete and permanent ceasefire,” the official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“This step was by-passed, as the mediators pledged that as long as the prisoner negotiations continued, the ceasefire would continue,” he added.

US President Joe Biden outlined a plan on May 31, that he said was proposed by Israel and promised “a roadmap to an enduring ceasefire and the release of all hostages”.

An Israeli negotiator went to Doha for talks with the mediators on Friday. Israel said there are still “gaps” in counter-proposals made by Hamas but that the negotiator would return to Doha this week.

An official with knowledge of the mediation said US CIA director William Burns would also go to Qatar this week.

The Hamas official said Egypt and Turkey would also step up their efforts in coming days to reach an accord.

If full negotiations start, Hamas expects them to take between two to three weeks, according to the official.

The Hamas official said that if a ceasefire started it would want up to 400 trucks of aid to enter the besieged Palestinian territory each day.

Meanwhile, the civil defence agency in Hamas-run Gaza said a strike Sunday on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians killed at least four people, the second such Israeli attack in two days.

The civil defence agency said Ihab al-Ghusain, the Hamas government’s deputy labour minister, was among those killed in the strike on the Holy Family school.

The strike came a day after a UN-run school in the central Nuseirat refugee camp was hit, in an attack that the Gaza health ministry said killed 16 people and drew condemnation from the United Nations.

Hamas has repeatedly denied Israeli accusations that militants were hiding in civilian infrastructure.

The vast majority of the Gaza Strip’s 2.4 million people have been displaced by the war, now in its 10th month, and many have taken shelter in UN-run schools across the besieged territory.