US and Hamas hold first direct talks since Gaza truce as ceasefire process stalls

The US and Hamas held their first direct talks since the Gaza ceasefire as part of efforts to advance the fragile US-brokered agreement, two Hamas sources said.

A delegation led by senior US advisor Aryeh Lightstone met chief Hamas negotiator Khalil al-Hayya in Cairo on Tuesday night, according to the sources. Lightstone was joined by Nickolay Mladenov, the US-backed Board of Peace’s High Representative for Gaza, officials said. 

Al-Hayya, who survived an Israeli assassination attempt in the Qatari capital Doha last September, pressed Lightstone about the need for Israel to fully implement its commitments to the first phase of the agreement — including an end to strikes and the entry of more humanitarian aid — in order to move to the next phase, the sources said.

The truce, brokered in October, brought an end to two years of war in Gaza, even as it failed to answer substantive questions about the future of the devastated territory, including the role of Hamas in any future security or governing role. Hamas has reasserted its control over the portion of Gaza not occupied by Israel and the Israeli military has continued to carry out frequent strikes in the territory.

“The proposed paper reflects a major imbalance in the ordering of priorities: Israel’s security first, while Palestinians’ humanitarian, political, and administrative rights are postponed,” the source said.

The source said Mladenov has taken to relaying Israel’s demands and warning that Israel will return to war if Hamas does not agree to disarm.

“It even reached the point where Mladenov conveyed veiled threats: accept the paper or face a return to war,” the source said.