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Negotiations are under way to ensure safe passage for dozens of Hamas fighters holed up in tunnels in southern Gaza, multiple sources close to the talks told AFP on Thursday.
Israeli media has reported that for weeks that between 100 and 200 Hamas militants have remained trapped in a network of tunnels under the city of Rafah in an area of the Gaza Strip under Israeli military control.
A prominent Hamas member in Gaza told AFP that the group estimated their number to be between 60 and 80, and said they were “under siege” but would not surrender.
Under the terms of a US-brokered ceasefire that entered into force on October 10, the Israeli army withdrew from coastal parts of the Palestinian territory to an area behind the so-called Yellow Line boundary, marked with yellow concrete blocks.
The Hamas militants are in tunnels located behind the Yellow Line.
“Discussions and communications with the mediators (Egypt, Turkey and Qatar) and the Americans are ongoing in an effort to resolve the crisis,” a Hamas leader told AFP on condition of anonymity, due to the sensitivity of the subject.
A source from one of the mediating countries confirmed to AFP on Thursday that the United States, Qatar, Egypt and Turkey have been discussing “with the aim of reaching a compromise that would allow Hamas fighters to leave the tunnels behind the Yellow Line near Rafah”.
“The current proposal would grant them safe passage to areas not under Israeli control, helping to ensure this does not become a friction point that leads to further violations or the collapse of the ceasefire,” the source added.
“This issue has been discussed… with Egyptian officials, including Intelligence Minister Hassan Rashad, this week,” a Palestinian source familiar with the talks said.
On Wednesday, Hamas called on mediating countries to pressure Israel to allow safe passage for its fighters – the first time the Islamist group had publicly acknowledged the situation.
“We call upon our mediators to take immediate action to pressure (Israel) to allow our sons to return home,” Hamas said in a statement.
However, Israel does not publicly appear to be open to compromise on their safe release from the tunnels.
An Israeli government spokesperson told AFP earlier this month that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “is not allowing safe passage for 200 Hamas terrorists” and that he “remains firm in his position to dismantle Hamas’s military capabilities and demilitarise the Gaza Strip”.
In its statement on Wednesday, Hamas accused Israel of violating the ceasefire agreement through the “pursuit, liquidation and arrest of resistance fighters besieged in the tunnels of Rafah”.
