Hamas says it agrees to release Israeli hostages | The Express Tribune

Hamas has agreed to release all the remaining Israeli hostages but has said it wants further negotiations on a number of key points outlined in the US peace plan.

In a statement the movement said it agreed “to release all Israeli prisoners, both living and dead, according to the exchange formula contained in President Trump’s proposal” —if field conditions for the exchanges were met.

But it appears to suggest it is seeking further negotiation on other issues regarding the future of the Gaza Strip and the rights of the Palestinian people saying that they are still being discussed.

The Hamas statement does not specifically mention or accept Trump’s 20-point plan but says it “renews its agreement to hand over the administration of the Gaza Strip to a Palestinian body of independents (technocrats), based on Palestinian national consensus and Arab and Islamic support.”

However the statement makes no mention of one of the key demands of the plan – that Hamas agree to its disarmament and to playing no further role in the governance of Gaza.

The key question is whether the agreement to free the hostages and eventually hand over Gaza will be enough for Donald Trump to believe there is a prospect of an end to the war.

The announcement came hours after US President Donald Trump gave Hamas a deadline of 18:00 Washington time (22:00 GMT) on Sunday to accept a US peace plan for Gaza or face “all hell”.

“If this LAST CHANCE agreement is not reached, all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.

The proposal, backed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calls for a ceasefire, the release of hostages within 72 hours, Hamas’s disarmament and a gradual Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

That would be followed by a post-war transitional authority headed by Trump himself.

“Hamas is still continuing consultations regarding Trump’s plan… and has informed mediators that the consultations are ongoing and need some time,” the official said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly on the matter.

On Tuesday Trump gave Hamas “three or four days” to accept his plan, which has been welcomed by world powers, including Arab and Muslim nations.

Mohammad Nazzal, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, said in a statement Friday that the “plan has points of concern, and we will announce our position on it soon”.

‘Places of death’

On the ground on Friday, Gaza’s civil defence agency — a rescue force operating under Hamas authority — reported heavy air bombardment and artillery shelling on Gaza City.

It said Israeli strikes killed at least 11 people across the territory, including eight in Gaza City.

AFP has contacted the Israeli military for comment.

Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing swathes of the territory mean AFP cannot independently verify details or casualty figures provided by the Israeli military or the civil defence.

The Israeli military is waging an air and ground offensive on the territory’s largest urban centre, from which hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee.

The UN on Friday reiterated there was no safe place in Gaza and that Israel-designated zones in the south were “places of death”.

“The notion of a safe zone in the south is farcical,” UNICEF spokesman James Elder said from the Gaza Strip.

Amnesty International condemned a “catastrophic wave of mass displacement” as Israel intensified its Gaza City offensive.

The rights group said hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, many of whom had already been displaced multiple times, were being forced into “overcrowded enclaves in the south… that lack access to clean water, food, medical care, shelter and life-sustaining infrastructure”.

As the war nears the two-year mark and the death toll continues to rise, protesters around the world have railed at Israel’s interception of a flotilla carrying pro-Palestinian activists and aid for Gaza.

On Friday, the organisers of the Global Sumud Flotilla said its last remaining boat had been intercepted and Israel’s foreign ministry said it had deported four Italian participants.

‘Two opinions’ in Hamas

As Hamas mulled Trump’s peace plan this week, a Palestinian source close to the group’s leadership told AFP on Wednesday that the Islamist movement wanted to amend some clauses, including the one on disarmament.

Hamas leaders also want “international guarantees” for a full Israeli withdrawal and that no assassination attempts would be made inside or outside Gaza, the source added.

Another source familiar with the negotiations told AFP that the group was split over Trump’s plan.

Structurally, the group’s leadership is divided between officials based in the Gaza Strip and those abroad, particularly in Qatar.

Much of Hamas’s leadership has also been wiped out in Israeli attacks throughout the war.

The source told AFP that “the first (opinion) supports unconditional approval, as the priority is a ceasefire under Trump’s guarantees, with mediators ensuring Israel implements the plan”.

“The second has serious reservations regarding key clauses… They favour conditional approval with clarifications reflecting Hamas’s and the resistance factions’ demands,” the source added.

Hugh Lovatt, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said “ultimately it’s not just about convincing Hamas leadership in Doha, but also the leadership in Gaza, as well as Hamas members and fighters in Gaza”.

“Additionally, Hamas must then be able to convince other factions in Gaza,” he added.

The war was triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 66,288 Palestinians, according to health ministry figures in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.

Their data does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but indicates that more than half of the dead are women and children.

(With additional input from AFP