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Nizar Awadallah: ‘Hidden Key’ in the Gaza Negotiations

In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, right, greets Nizar Awadallah, a member of the Hamas leadership council, during their meeting in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)
In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, right, greets Nizar Awadallah, a member of the Hamas leadership council, during their meeting in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)
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Nizar Awadallah: ‘Hidden Key’ in the Gaza Negotiations

In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, right, greets Nizar Awadallah, a member of the Hamas leadership council, during their meeting in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)
In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, right, greets Nizar Awadallah, a member of the Hamas leadership council, during their meeting in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)

As Hamas released a new batch of Israeli captives on Saturday, sources within and close to the movement revealed that a senior leader played a crucial yet largely unseen role in the negotiations that led to the prisoner exchange deal and the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

According to these sources, Nizar Awadallah was the “hidden key” in the Gaza talks, particularly as the process moved into its second phase with Israel.

Awadallah, a senior Hamas leader, was one of the most influential figures in managing the negotiations. His role was pivotal in identifying critical gaps in the talks and addressing them before they could become obstacles. While he did not participate directly in all meetings with mediators, he frequently engaged in internal discussions with the Hamas leadership, ensuring that the negotiating team avoided strategic missteps.

Currently, Awadallah is outside Gaza, having left shortly before the recent war along with other senior Hamas political bureau members. Sources indicated that he played a key role in extensive meetings with Hamas’ political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, before the latter was assassinated in Tehran last year.

Awadallah was reportedly cautious about Israel’s commitment to agreements, often advocating for stricter conditions that would compel Tel Aviv to comply. He pushed for a more stringent approach to the prisoner exchange mechanism, seeking to ensure that Hamas would not be left vulnerable to Israeli maneuvering.

While sources stopped short of calling him the “planner” of the current ceasefire and exchange deal, they emphasized his significant role alongside other key Hamas figures.

Awadallah was instrumental in past negotiations, particularly in the 2006 capture and subsequent 2011 prisoner exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. A year after the exchange, Israeli media identified him as one of its mastermind, alongside Ahmad al-Jaabari, the slain commander of Hamas’ military wing, Al-Qassam Brigades.

Beyond negotiations with Israel, Awadallah also played a crucial role in talks between Hamas and Fatah aimed at Palestinian national reconciliation. He was involved in multiple rounds of discussions hosted by various countries.

He briefly led Hamas’ political bureau in Gaza between late 2004 and early 2007, a period marked by intense political and military challenges. It was during this time that Hamas took control of Gaza by force, captured Shalit, and faced international isolation after forming the Palestinian government in 2006—only to be swiftly dismissed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Awadallah is considered part of Hamas’ founding generation, closely associated with the movement’s spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, as well as senior figures like Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi. He was deeply involved in shaping Hamas’ early strategies and political direction.

During the latest war in Gaza, Awadallah suffered a loss when his eldest son, Ubaida, was killed in an Israeli airstrike.

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Israel’s Cutoff of Supplies to Gaza Sends Prices Soaring as Aid Stockpiles Dwindle

Members of Abed family, warm up by a fire at a tent camp for displaced Palestinians at the Muwasi, Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, Feb. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Members of Abed family, warm up by a fire at a tent camp for displaced Palestinians at the Muwasi, Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, Feb. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
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Israel’s Cutoff of Supplies to Gaza Sends Prices Soaring as Aid Stockpiles Dwindle

Members of Abed family, warm up by a fire at a tent camp for displaced Palestinians at the Muwasi, Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, Feb. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Members of Abed family, warm up by a fire at a tent camp for displaced Palestinians at the Muwasi, Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, Feb. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Israel’s cutoff of food, fuel, medicine and other supplies to Gaza’s 2 million people has sent prices soaring and humanitarian groups into overdrive trying to distribute dwindling stocks to the most vulnerable.

The aid freeze has imperiled the progress aid workers say they have made to stave off famine over the past six weeks during Phase 1 of the ceasefire deal Israel and Hamas agreed to in January.

After more than 16 months of war, Gaza’s population is entirely dependent on trucked-in food and other aid. Most are displaced from their homes, and many need shelter. Fuel is needed to keep hospitals, water pumps, bakeries and telecommunications — as well as trucks delivering the aid — operating.

Israel says the siege aims at pressuring Hamas to accept its ceasefire proposal. Israel has delayed moving to the second phase of the deal it reached with Hamas, during which the flow of aid was supposed to continue. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that he is prepared to increase the pressure and would not rule out cutting off all electricity to Gaza if Hamas doesn’t budge.

Rights groups have called the cutoff a “starvation policy.”

Four days in, how is the cutoff affecting Gaza?

Food, fuel and shelter supplies are threatened The World Food Program, the UN's main food agency, says it has no major stockpile of food in Gaza because it focused on distributing all incoming food to hungry people during Phase 1 of the deal. In a statement to AP, it said existing stocks are enough to keep bakeries and kitchens running for under two weeks.

WFP said it may be forced to reduce ration sizes to serve as many people as possible. It said its fuel reserves, necessary to run bakeries and transport food, will last for a few weeks if not replenished soon.

There’s also no major stockpile of tents in Gaza, said Shaina Low, communications adviser for the Norwegian Refugee Council. The shelter materials that came in during the ceasefire’s first phase were “nowhere near enough to address all of the needs,” she said.

“If it was enough, we wouldn’t have had infants dying from exposure because of lack of shelter materials and warm clothes and proper medical equipment to treat them,” she said.

At least seven infants in Gaza died from hypothermia during Phase 1.

Urgently checking reserves “We’re trying to figure out, what do we have? What would be the best use of our supply?" said Jonathan Crickx, chief of communication for UNICEF. "We never sat on supplies, so it’s not like there’s a huge amount left to distribute.”

He predicted a “catastrophic result” if the aid freeze continues.

During the ceasefire's first phase, humanitarian agencies rushed in supplies, with about 600 trucks entering per day on average. Aid workers set up more food kitchens, health centers and water distribution points. With more fuel coming in, they could double the amount of water drawn from wells, according to the UN humanitarian agency.

Around 100,000 tents also arrived as hundreds of thousands of Palestinians tried to return to their homes, only to find them destroyed or too damaged to live in.

But the progress relied on the flow of aid continuing.

Oxfam has 26 trucks with thousands of food packages and hygiene kits and 12 trucks of water tanks waiting outside Gaza, said Bushra Khalidi, Oxfam’s policy lead in the West Bank.

“This is not just about hundreds of trucks of food, it’s about the total collapse of systems that sustain life,” she said.

The International Organization for Migration has 22,500 tents in its warehouses in Jordan after trucks brought back their undelivered cargo once entry was barred, said Karl Baker, the agency's regional crisis coordinator.

The International Rescue Committee has 6.7 tons of medicines and medical supplies waiting to enter Gaza and its delivery is “highly uncertain,” said Bob Kitchen, vice president of its emergencies and humanitarian action department.

Medical Aid for Palestinians said it has trucks stuck at Gaza's border carrying medicine, mattresses and assistive devices for people with disabilities. The organization has some medicine and materials in reserve, said spokesperson Tess Pope, but "we don’t have stock that we can use during a long closure of Gaza.”

Prices up sharply Prices of vegetables and flour are now climbing in Gaza after easing during the ceasefire.

Sayed Mohamed al-Dairi walked through a bustling market in Gaza City just after the aid cutoff was announced. Already, sellers were increasing the prices of dwindling wares.

“The traders are massacring us, the traders are not merciful to us,” he said. “In the morning, the price of sugar was 5 shekels. Ask him now, the price has become 10 shekels.”

In the central Gaza city of Deir Al-Balah, one cigarette priced at 5 shekels ($1.37) before the cutoff now stands at 20 shekels ($5.49). One kilo of chicken (2.2 pounds) that was 21 shekels ($5.76) is now 50 shekels ($13.72). Cooking gas has soared from 90 shekels ($24.70) for 12 kilos (26.4 pounds) to 1,480 shekels ($406.24).

Following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, Israel cut off all aid to Gaza for two weeks — a measure central to South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza at the International Court of Justice. That took place as Israel launched the most intense phase of its aerial bombardment of Gaza, one of the most aggressive campaigns in modern history.

Palestinians fear a repeat of that period.

“We are afraid that Netanyahu or Trump will launch a war more severe than the previous war,” said Abeer Obeid, a Palestinian woman from northern Gaza. "For the extension of the truce, they must find any other solution.”