Israel asks ceasefire negotiators to continue working

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to send a negotiating team to discuss a hostage release deal with Hamas.

US President Joe Biden welcomed the development, which came a day after Hamas responded to a Gaza ceasefire plan he outlined in late May. The last indirect talks took place in Cairo earlier that month.

Details of Hamas’ latest response have not been made public, but a Palestinian official told the BBC the group was no longer demanding a full ceasefire when the plan presented by Mr Biden began.

A senior US administration official said Hamas had agreed to a “fairly significant adjustment” in its stance.

“We have made a breakthrough in what has been a serious impasse,” the US official said, although he stressed that “this does not mean that this deal will be completed in a matter of days.”

President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke by phone on Thursday, focusing on the hostage situation and ceasefire talks, the official said.

On Wednesday, Hamas political leaders said they had been in contact with mediators from Egypt and Qatar about ideas they had discussed with the aim of reaching a deal.

Hamas has so far demanded an end to the war and a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. Israel has said it will only accept a pause in fighting until it eliminates Hamas.

When announcing the plan on May 31, President Biden said it was based on a more detailed proposal from Israel and would include three phases.

The first was a six-week “full and comprehensive ceasefire” that saw Israeli troops withdraw from populated areas in Gaza and exchange a number of hostages – including women, the elderly, the sick or wounded – for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.

The second phase would include the release of all other living hostages and a “permanent cessation of hostilities”. The third phase would be the start of a major reconstruction plan for Gaza and the return of the remains of the dead hostages.

Following a phone call between the two leaders on Thursday, the Israeli government said in a statement: “Prime Minister Netanyahu updated President Biden on the decision to send a delegation to continue hostage negotiations and reiterated the principles to which Israel is committed, in particular the commitment to end the war only after all objectives have been achieved.”

Mr Netanyahu has said his goal is to release all remaining hostages, destroy Hamas’ military and governance capabilities, and ensure Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel.

The White House said Mr Biden “welcomed the prime minister’s decision to allow his negotiators to work with US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators in an effort to finalise the deal”.

Meanwhile, a source in Israel’s negotiating team told Reuters that Hamas’ response included “a very important breakthrough” and that there was “a real chance of a deal being made”.

A senior Palestinian official told the BBC early on Thursday that Hamas had dropped its demand for a full ceasefire. Their new conditions, the official said, involved the withdrawal of Israeli troops from a strip of land running along Gaza’s southern border with Egypt, known as the Philadelphi corridor, and from the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt.

The source, who was briefed on Hamas’ response to the mediators, added that the atmosphere was positive. “We will soon move to a new round of talks,” the source said.

The United States accuses Hamas of obstructing progress towards a ceasefire.

On Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the group was “an exception” to international support for the proposed ceasefire. He said Hamas had created “distance… by not agreeing to a proposal that everyone, including the Israelis, agreed to.”

Prime Minister Netanyahu said he was “committed to the Israeli proposal that President Biden welcomed,” although he has not publicly endorsed the outline that has been presented.

The war broke out after an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed some 1,200 people and took 251 others back to Gaza as hostages.

According to the health ministry of Hamas-run Gaza, at least 38,010 Palestinians have been killed as a result of the Israeli offensive.

Hamas and allied militant groups are believed to still be holding 116 hostages seized on October 7. Israeli authorities say at least 42 people are dead.

The rest were released, rescued or had their bodies recovered.

Four other Israelis have been held hostage since 2014 and 2015, including two who are believed to have died.

Additional reporting by Rushdi Aboualouf in Istanbul