Informed sources in the Hamas movement considered on Friday that the movement’s flexible position on the issues discussed by its delegation in Cairo on Thursday was behind the new beginning in the negotiations conducted by the movement’s head, Ismail Haniyeh, with the director of Egyptian intelligence, Abbas Kamel.

The sources explained that the movement showed flexibility on three points: the duration of the ceasefire in Gaza, the number of prisoners of the first phase of the possible exchange agreement with Israel, and the limits of the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, in order to reach a cessation of war agreement.

The Hamas source said, “The movement’s leadership does not mind a truce lasting only six weeks, at every stage,” and attributed this to “making it easier for mediators to remove pretexts from the occupation and push toward reaching an agreement to stop the aggression.”

The source, who requested to remain anonymous, added that “Hamas also showed flexibility regarding the number of Palestinian prisoners who will be released in the first phase, so that it waived its requirement to release 1,500 prisoners in exchange for about 40 Israeli detainees of women and children.” And elderly civilians, and subjecting the number of prisoners to negotiation.”

The source did not clarify the number of Palestinian prisoners that Hamas would agree to release in the first stage, compared to 40 Israeli civilians who have been detained by the movement since last October 7.

Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip

The source indicated that his movement expressed its willingness to show flexibility with regard to its agreement to postpone negotiations on the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the north and east of the Gaza Strip, as well as Khan Yunis in the south, but it reiterated its “commitment that the first phase of the agreement include a withdrawal from the heart of the cities, allowing With the return of the displaced from the southern Gaza Strip to Gaza City and the cities of the north,” according to the same source.

The source stated that Egyptian officials “conveyed to Hamas Israel’s readiness to agree to the return of the displaced to the northern Gaza Strip, as well as agreeing to remove the military barriers that cut off the Gaza Strip, especially on Salah al-Din Street (the highway that connects the northern and southern Strip) and (Al-Rashid) Al-Saheli.”

The source continued in his statements that the mediators in Egypt and Qatar have what he described as “some optimism for progress in the Paris meetings that may pave the way for ceasefire talks,” adding, “We expect a simple breakthrough, and I do not rule out a breakthrough during the next week in Ceasefire negotiations and prisoner exchange.”