Hamas Claims Ceasefire Possible Within ’24 To 48 Hrs’ If Israel Accepts Demands

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — A senior Hamas official claimed Sunday that a ceasefire in Gaza could be secured within “24 to 48 hours” if Israel were to accept Hamas’s demands in the ongoing negotiations, which have reportedly stalled as Hamas refuses to provide Israel with a list of hostages who are still alive.

“If Israel agrees to Hamas demands, which include the return of displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza and increasing humanitarian aid, that would pave the way for an agreement within the next 24 to 48 hours,” the unnamed Hamas official told AFP as a delegation of its officials arrived in Cairo for talks on a potential temporary truce and hostage deal, according to a Times of Israel report.

The official added that Hamas had demanded the entry of “at least 400 to 500 trucks per day” carrying food, medicine and fuel as part of a truce deal.

The Hamas official’s claim that Israel is the party responsible for delaying the deal contradicted comments by a senior US official, who said on Saturday that Israel had agreed to the framework for a six-week pause in fighting, which now depended on Hamas agreeing to release the hostages.

An Israeli delegation is expected to arrive in the Egyptian capital later on Sunday as well, although a source briefed on the talks reiterated that Israel would not send a team until it received the list of live hostages it demanded. Hamas has said that even for this information it is demanding “a big price” from Israel, according to a report by Al Araby Al Jadeed, a London-based Qatari news agency.

Should a deal be reached, it would be the second of its kind since the terror onslaught carried out by Hamas in southern Israel on October 7. The first was a weeklong truce in late November that brought about the release of 105 civilians from Hamas captivity in exchange for 240 Palestinian security prisoners.

It is believed that 130 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza — not all of them alive — after the November truce and the release of four other hostages prior to it.

Three hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 11 hostages have been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military. The IDF has confirmed the deaths of 31 of those still held by Hamas and one more person has been listed as missing since October 7, and their fate is still unknown.

In the meantime the IDF has intensified its attacks in western Khan Younis, striking some 50 Hamas targets in a ten-minute air barrage early Sunday morning. The barrage will enable ground troops from the 98th Division to maneuver into new areas of the city in the southern Gaza Strip.

According to the IDF, the targets included underground infrastructure, buildings used by Hamas, anti-tank launch positions, booby-trapped buildings, and staging grounds where operatives were gathered.

After the wave of strikes, the 98th Division “began a surprise assault on the area, during which the troops raided terror targets and eliminated terrorists,” the IDF said, and added that intensive fighting was ongoing on Sunday morning.

Meanwhile, in central Gaza, the IDF said the Nahal Brigade killed dozens of Hamas operatives over the past day, some of them by calling in airstrikes, and captured numerous weapons.