Hamas seeks 'real guarantees' from US that Israel's war will permanently end

The head of Hamas's negotiating team is seeking "real guarantees" from the US president and sponsoring countries that Israel will put a permanent end to the war at indirect talks in Egypt to end Israel's war on Gaza, Al Qahera news reported on Tuesday.

Khalil al-Hayya told Egypt's state television channel Al Qahera in a rare interview that the group had come to Sharm El-Sheikh "to conduct responsible and serious consultations, bearing the concerns and pain of our people and the sacrifices made - the martyrs, destroyed homes - as a result of the insane two-year war waged by the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people".

"All of these pains we carry with us. We also carry the goals and aspirations of our people for stability, freedom, the establishment of a state and self-determination," he added.

Al-Hayya said the delegation had arrived with the explicit goals of ending the war, Israel withdrawing completely from the Gaza Strip, and the release of all Israeli captives, living and dead, in exchange for Palestinian captives detained in Israeli prisons, in accordance with the Trump plan.

Al-Hayya expressed his pain over the ongoing killing, bombing and destruction of Gaza, particularly in the north of the strip, despite Hamas publicly declaring on Friday their readiness to accept Trump's proposed peace plan to end the war prompting the US president to call for Israel to "immediately" end the bombing. 

The Palestinian movement said it wanted "real guarantees" from Trump and other mediators that the war on Gaza "would end once and for all".

"We don't trust the occupier," al-Hayya said, citing Israel reneging on an agreement in November and December 2023 and violating the January ceasefire deal in March. "The Israeli occupation has never kept its promises… that's why we want real guarantees from President Trump and the sponsoring countries," he added.

"We are ready and positive to [work] towards an agreement that would see the end of the war, the withdrawal [of Israeli troops from Gaza] and an exchange of prisoners so the war ends forever, and our Palestinian people may live in stability and peace, in accordance with their legitimate aspirations, like all other peoples of the region in which we live," he added.

Hamas is also demanding that the widely respected Palestinian Fatah party leader Marwan Barghouti be included in the list of Palestinian captives to be released in exchange for Israeli captives, along with the former head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine Ahmad Saadat, and Hamas leaders Hassan Salame and Abbas Al-Sayyed.

Netanyahu has not agreed to release the four men.

The negotiations started in the Egyptian city on Monday. A US delegation led by envoy Steve Witkoff and including Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, is due to arrive in Egypt on Tuesday.

Last Monday, Trump announced a 20-point plan to end the war on Gaza that was accepted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Hamas has agreed to return all Israeli captives with Israel releasing Palestinian prisoners in return. Both sides have expressed reservations about different aspects of the plan.