A top Hamas political official, Khalil al-Hayya, revealed to The Associated Press that the group is inclined to agree to a truce of five years or more with Israel. This truce would involve Hamas laying down its weapons and converting into a political party if an independent Palestinian state is established along pre-1967 borders. These comments were made during an interview on Wednesday and come amidst a stalemate in months of cease-fire talks.
The suggestion that Hamas would disarm appears to be a significant concession from the militant group that has been officially committed to Israel’s destruction. However, it is unlikely that Israel would consider such a scenario, as it has vowed to crush Hamas following the deadly October 7 attack that triggered the war and its current leadership is firmly opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state on lands captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war.
Al-Hayya, a high-ranking Hamas official who has represented the Palestinian militants in negotiations for a cease-fire and hostage exchange, struck a sometimes defiant and at other times conciliatory tone. Speaking to the AP in Istanbul, Al-Hayya expressed Hamas’s desire to join the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), headed by the rival Fatah faction, in order to establish a unified government for both Gaza and the West Bank. He stated that Hamas would accept “a fully sovereign Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the return of Palestinian refugees in accordance with international resolutions,” along Israel’s pre-1967 borders. He added that if this were to happen, the group’s military wing would be dissolved.
Over the years, Hamas has occasionally moderated its public stance with regard to the possibility of a Palestinian state existing alongside Israel. However, its political program still officially “rejects any alternative to the full liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea” — referring to the area reaching from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, which includes lands that now make up Israel.
Al-Hayya did not specify whether his apparent acceptance of a two-state solution would lead to an end to the Palestinian conflict with Israel or serve as an interim step towards the group’s stated goal of eliminating Israel. There was no immediate response from Israel or the Palestinian Authority (PA), the internationally recognized self-ruled government that Hamas drove out when it seized control of Gaza in 2007, a year after winning Palestinian parliamentary elections. After Hamas took over Gaza, the PA was left administering semi-autonomous pockets of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The Palestinian Authority aspires to establish an independent state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem, and Gaza — areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war. While the international community overwhelmingly supports such a two-state solution, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hardline government rejects it.
The war in Gaza has been ongoing for nearly seven months, with cease-fire negotiations having stalled. The war began with the deadly Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel in which Hamas-led militants killed approximately 1,200 people, the majority of whom were civilians, and took around 250 people hostage. The ensuing Israeli bombardment and ground offensive in Gaza has resulted in the deaths of over 34,000 Palestinians, as per local health authorities, a large number of whom were women and children, and has displaced approximately 80% of Gaza’s 2.3 million population. Israel is currently preparing for an offensive in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians have sought refuge. Israel claims to have dismantled the majority of the initial two dozen Hamas battalions since the outbreak of the war, but four remain holed up in Rafah. Israel maintains that an offensive in Rafah is necessary to achieve victory over Hamas.
Al-Hayya, however, expressed his belief that such an offensive would not succeed in eliminating Hamas. He stated that communication between the political leadership outside Gaza and the military leadership within Gaza has been “uninterrupted” by the war and that “contacts, decisions, and directions are made in consultation” between the two groups. He asserts that Israeli forces “have not destroyed more than 20% of (Hamas’) capabilities, neither human nor in the field.” He argues, “If they can’t finish (Hamas) off, what is the solution? The solution is to go to consensus.”
A weeklong cease-fire in November saw the release of more than 100 hostages in exchange for thousands of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. However, negotiations for a longer-term truce and the release of remaining hostages have since stalled, with each side accusing the other of intransigence. Qatar, a key interlocutor, has recently announced it is “reassessing” its role as a mediator. Most of Hamas’ top political officials, previously based in Qatar, have left the Gulf country within the last week and traveled to Turkey, where Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday.
Al-Hayya rejected the notion that the group’s main political office is being permanently relocated, stating that Hamas hopes to see Qatar continue in its role as mediator in the talks. Israeli and US officials have accused Hamas of insincerity in its pursuit of a deal. Al-Hayya refuted these accusations, claiming that Hamas has made concessions regarding the number of Palestinian prisoners it seeks released in exchange for the remaining Israeli hostages. He stated that the group does not have precise knowledge of how many hostages remain alive in Gaza, but he emphasized that Hamas will not retreat from its demands for a permanent cease-fire and the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops, both of which Israel has been reluctant to accept. Israel has declared that it will persist with military operations until Hamas is definitively defeated and that it will maintain a security presence in Gaza afterward.
“If we are not assured the war will end, why would I hand over the prisoners?” the Hamas leader said regarding the remaining hostages.
Al-Hayya also conveyed an implicit threat that Hamas would target Israeli or other forces that might be deployed around a floating pier that the US is hastily constructing along Gaza’s coastline to facilitate the delivery of aid via sea. “We categorically reject any non-Palestinian presence in Gaza, whether at sea or on land, and we will deal with any military force present in these places, Israeli or otherwise â€æ as an occupying power,” he asserted.
Al-Hayya maintained that Hamas does not regret the Oct. 7 attacks, even in light of the devastation it has brought upon Gaza and its people. He denied that Hamas militants had targeted civilians during the attacks — despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary — and claimed that the operation had achieved its goal of drawing global attention back to the Palestinian cause. He also stated his belief that Israeli attempts to eradicate Hamas would ultimately fail to prevent future Palestinian armed uprisings. “Let’s say that they have destroyed Hamas. Are the Palestinian people gone?” he questioned.
