A Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo on Tuesday for further talks on implementing the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, with meetings planned with Egyptian, Qatari and Turkish mediators.
The delegation will also hold separate talks with Egyptian officials and Palestinian factions.
Two Hamas sources and two officials from Palestinian factions taking part in the negotiations told Asharq Al-Awsat that Hamas had drafted new language on two of the most sensitive issues: the future of the factions’ weapons and the status of Hamas government employees in Gaza.
The Hamas sources said the group would propose compromise language for Clause Five, which covers government employees. The proposal calls for a legal committee to resolve the issue while protecting employees’ rights under Palestinian law.
They said Clause Eight, on weapons, would now include the term “infrastructure,” which Hamas had previously refused to accept. Its scope and definition would be negotiated with mediators during the Cairo talks.
The sources said the Hamas delegation would accept any agreement reached with mediators on the two clauses.
They said the negotiating team had full backing to move into the second phase, provided the remaining terms of the first phase were fully implemented.
Cautious optimism
A third Palestinian faction source said the talks could make progress, with Hamas expected to respond more positively to proposals from mediators and other parties than before.
The source said Hamas had briefed the factions on progress made during talks in Türkiye in recent days, particularly on the weapons clause.
A fourth source said Türkiye had put heavy pressure on Hamas leaders who were in Istanbul for the group’s internal elections to advance the ceasefire agreement reached on Oct. 10, 2025.
Türkiye had also stressed Palestinians’ right to better living conditions, reconstruction and greater attention to humanitarian needs as Israel escalated operations on the ground and seized more territory, the source said.
A senior Hamas source, however, warned against excessive optimism.
He said there was broad agreement within Hamas on the need to make all necessary concessions and deny Israel any pretext to block the deal. But Israel could still reject Hamas’s proposals or any agreement later reached with mediators.
The source said all sides, including the mediators, recognized that Israel could reject any proposal because of its upcoming elections.
Even so, he said Hamas would meet an earlier demand to include the term “infrastructure” and was ready to place weapons under full monitoring by the mediators, the Board of Peace and the Gaza administration committee, which would take primary responsibility for the process.
The talks come after Israel agreed to allow the Board of Peace and its International Stabilization Force into Gaza, starting in Rafah.
The area is expected to host the first temporary housing units as part of a pilot project intended to pressure Hamas to eventually disarm in return for the implementation of a “roadmap”.
The council has insisted that the roadmap be implemented in full. It was drafted with the mediators and presented to Hamas last April.
All sides have amended it several times, but no full agreement has been reached.
Hamas has neither endorsed nor rejected Israel’s decision nor statements by the Board of Peace and its high representative for Gaza, Nickolay Mladenov, on the entry of the International Stabilization Force.
A Hamas source said mediators had asked the group not to comment on any steps taken at this stage, hoping its silence would help advance negotiations, secure an agreement, and bind Israel to it.
