Hamas says open to 5-year Gaza truce, one-time captives release

Hamas is open to an agreement to end the war in Gaza that would see all captives released and secure a five-year truce, an official said Saturday as the group's negotiators held talks with mediators.

A Hamas delegation visited Cairo to discuss with Egyptian mediators ways out of the 18-month war while, on the ground, rescuers said “Israeli” strikes in Gaza killed at least 35 people.

Nearly eight weeks into an “Israeli” aid blockade, the United Nations says food and medical supplies are running out in the territory.

The Hamas official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said the group "is ready for an exchange of prisoners in a single batch and a truce for five years".

A statement later from Hamas said its delegation had left Cairo on Saturday evening.

The latest bid to seal a ceasefire follows an “Israeli” proposal Hamas rejected earlier this month as "partial". The new proposal calls instead for a "comprehensive" agreement to halt the war.

The rejected “Israeli” offer, according to a senior Hamas official, included a 45-day ceasefire in exchange for the return of 10 living captives.

Hamas has consistently demanded that a truce deal must lead to the war's end, a full “Israeli” withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and a surge in humanitarian aid.

An “Israeli” pullout and a "permanent end to the war" would also have occurred – as outlined by then-US president Joe Biden – under a second phase of a ceasefire that had begun on January 19 but which collapsed two months later.

Hamas had sought talks on the second phase but “Israel” wanted the first phase extended.

“Israel” demands the return of all captives seized in the 2023 attack, and Hamas's disarmament, which the group has rejected as a "red line".

"This time we will insist on guarantees regarding the end of the war," Mahmud Mardawi, a senior Hamas official, said in a statement.

"The occupation can return to war after any partial deal, but it cannot do so with a comprehensive deal and international guarantees."

Later on Saturday, senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan reiterated that "any proposal that does not include a comprehensive and permanent cessation of the war will not be considered."

"We will not abandon the resistance's weapons as long as the occupation persists", he said in a statement.