BlackMask Breaking News

Hamas agreed to release 33 hostages during the first round of the latest negotiations on a new ceasefire deal with Israel, the Al-Akhbar newspaper reported. The outlet also noted the decision would mark a change in the organization’s previous stance. The news came after the allegations Hamas was about to accept a truce agreement with Israel. NN: This story is a work in progress

Hamas again warns Israel against Rafah op

In the second statement in hours, a diplomatic official again denies reports that Israel will agree to a hostages-for-truce agreement with Hamas that includes an Israeli commitment to end the war in Gaza.

The official further says that reports suggesting Israel will agree to the mediators providing guarantees for an end to the war are also false.

The source says Hamas is still demanding that Israel agree to end the war as a condition for any deal, “and in doing so is thwarting the possibility to reach an agreement.”

Hamas leadership approved the implementation of the first phase of the hostage deal

Hamas will announce soon that it agreed to the Egyptian mediation proposal, according to Saturday Arab media reports. The Egyptian “Al-Rad” channel reported that Hamas waived the condition for a cessation of fighting in the first phase of a hostage deal. According to the report, Hamas waived the condition in the first mediation stage, with the guarantees of hostage mediators.  Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds reported that the announcement would come within days, while Qatari government-aligned newspaper Al-Sharq reported that it would come within hours. “In light of recent contacts with the mediator brothers in Egypt and Qatar, the Hamas delegation will head to Cairo [on] Saturday to complete the discussions,” Al-Sharq quoted Hamas as saying. Hamas’s delegation arrived in Cairo on Saturday morning, Hamas told the Saudi newspaper Asharq on Saturday. Hamas also said its primary focus would be achieving national consensus and rebuilding the Strip. It was also reported that in recent hours, Egypt, Qatar, Israel, and Hamas have held discussions on the number of prisoners to be released in the deal. Hamas, according to the Al-Quds report, also received American guarantees for a permanent cessation of the war and the withdrawal of the IDF from the Gaza Strip in the third phase of the deal. Hamas also reportedly said that there is no need for a permanent ceasefire as a precondition of talks, as they still hold senior IDF officers hostage and will be able to use them as leverage in discussion of a more permanent ceasefire. The IDF denied that it would forgo an invasion of Rafah due to a hostage deal, telling the Israeli media, “As decided by the politicians, the IDF will enter Rafah and destroy the remaining Hamas battalions there, whether or not there will be a temporary ceasefire for the release of our hostages.” Political officials agreed, saying that a hostage deal was not connected to a Rafah invasion and that the invasion would proceed regardless of the success of the agreement. A senior Hamas official confirmed this to N12 on Saturday morning, saying that the Hamas leadership had approved the implementation of the first phase of the hostage deal. According to the report, the shift seems to be caused by guarantees from the US, Qatar, and Egypt that Israel would entirely withdraw from the Gaza Strip by the end of the deal. Citing reports in Arab media, the Israeli newspaper Maariv reported that a senior Saudi official confirmed that Hamas was satisfied with the American guarantees. The N12 report noted that the same source said that CIA Director William Burns would return to Cairo on Saturday and meet with the senior Hamas negotiating team. The source went on to say that part of the assurances was that Israel would not enter Rafah at any point of the deal. He also confirmed that compromises had been reached on the number of hostages and Palestinian prisoners. Amid conflicting reports regarding whether or not an Israeli operation in Rafah could occur in the event of Hamas agreeing to a hostage deal proposal, Y-Net, citing an Al Jazeera interview with senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan, reported that the Islamist organization was confused by the Israeli rhetoric.

“Unfortunately, there was a clear statement from Netanyahu that no matter what might happen, whether there will be a ceasefire or not – he will order the operation in Rafah,” Hamdan said. “This means that there will be no ceasefire and that the fighting will continue, which is contrary to what we are discussing. We want to understand what he means. Our understanding is that any ceasefire agreement means that there will be no more attacks in Gaza.”

“The results today will be different. We have reached an agreement over many points, and a few point remain,” one Egyptian security source told Reuters. A Palestinian official with knowledge of the mediation efforts sounded cautious optimism. “Things look better this time but whether an agreement is on hand would depend on whether Israel has offered what it takes for that to happen,” the official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.    

developing story

According to the report, Hamas was guaranteed by the U.S. for a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and that Israeli forces will not continue fighting once the hostages are released. An Israeli official told Haaretz that ‘Israel will, under no circumstances, agree to end the war as part of a deal’ and is determined to enter Rafaha. One senses disappointment that Hamas has agreed.

An Israeli official close to ongoing talks to secure a hostage release deal discounts Arab media reports that claim the US has guaranteed Israel will withdraw all troops from Gaza at the conclusion of a three-phased ceasefire agreement. Contrary to the reports, Israel will under no circumstances agree to the end of the war as part of an agreement to release our hostages,” the official says. “As the political echelon decided, the IDF will enter Rafah and destroy the remaining Hamas battalions there – with or without a temporary respite to allow for the release of our hostages,” the official adds. Israel has repeatedly rejected ending the war to destroy Hamas in Gaza as a condition for a hostage release deal.

Hamas delegation in Cairo is preparing to announce a positive response in the next few hours to the latest ceasefire proposal to reach a deal with the Israeli government, the Times of Israel reported on Saturday quoting Palestinian Al-Quds newspaper sources. The media said that an undisclosed source within Hamas said the group is prepared to accept the deal without requiring the removal of Israeli forces from Gaza. It was reported that today, representatives from the Palestinian militant organization Hamas arrived in Egypt to carry out discussions regarding a potential ceasefire and the release of hostages in Gaza. On Friday, Hamas stated its determination to reach a truce in a “positive spirit”.

United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken noted that Hamas should readily agree to a ceasefire deal with Israel, but he stressed uncertainty regarding the motives of the group’s leadership in the Gaza Strip.

During his late intervention at the McCain Institute’s Sedona Forum, Blinken stated that while Hamas claims to represent the Palestinian people, their hesitation to accept the ceasefire raises questions about their true intentions. “If it is true, then taking the ceasefire should be a no-brainer […] But maybe something else is going on, and we’ll have a better picture of that in the coming days,” he said referring to Hamas’ return to Cairo to negotiate. Earlier he said that Hamas negotiators with whom they have contact live outside Gaza, making agreements with those inside the Strip more difficult to achieve

Blinken: US does not have contact with Hamas in Gaza

United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken said mediators between Israel and Hamas have only engaged with the Hamas political wing, which operates outside Gaza.

“The ultimate decision-makers are the folks who are actually in Gaza itself with whom none of us have direct contact,” he said in a speech at the McCain Institute.

Blinken repeated the assertion that Hamas “is the only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a ceasefire.” He also reiterated that the US cannot support Israel’s ground operation in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip as Israel has not provided a plan to protect civilians.

Hamas movement hailed on Friday the Yemeni-based Houthi group’s new phase to intensify their offensive against vessels in the eastern Mediterranean Sea aimed to disrupt the supply routes of Israel and its allies.

“These brave and heroic positions represent the stance that all Arabs and Muslims should adopt and act upon. We, in the Palestinian resistance factions, send greetings to the Yemeni people in all their spectra and living factions and their support of the Palestinian cause,” Hamas posted on Telegram.

“We advise America to put pressure on ISRAEL to stop the GENOCIDE in Gaza because Yemen is preparing for a fourth round of military escalation,” Houthis Spokesperson Yahya Saree added. NN: Does this look like a real peace deal to you? Not really! This a ploy for Hamas survival. Allowing them to regroup and attack Israel again.

Israel sought to temper optimism surrounding ceasefire negotiations with Hamas, the Times of Israel reported on Friday. “Even though the mediators are speaking optimistically, Israel has yet to hear that Hamas has agreed to retreat from its maximalist positions,” an unnamed Israeli senior official said. An earlier report quoted Israeli officials as claiming that Hamas is setting “harsh conditions” for the deal, although the group allegedly agreed to the first phase of the agreement without insisting that Israel end the conflict. Meanwhile, Hamas said it is “determined” to reach a ceasefire.

Hamas ‘determined’ to reach truce if demands met

Hamas stated on Friday through a Telegram post that both the movement and the resistance forces are “determined” to mature a ceasefire deal that meets the demands of the Palestinian people and emphasized that its delegation will travel to Cairo tomorrow with a “positive spirit” to “complete the discussions.”

“We are determined to reach an agreement that fulfills the demands of our people to stop the aggression, withdraw the occupation, return the displaced, begin reconstruction, and complete the prisoner deal,” the group added.

According to Israeli reports, the group might be open to accepting the first phase of the ceasefire agreement without demanding that Israel put an end to the war with “harsh conditions” for the truce.