These were not mere allegations or trial balloons, launched in interviews with Hebrew media earlier this month by former US hostage negotiator Adam Boehler. He said that Hamas had proposed an exchange of all prisoners and a 5-10 year truce during which it would disarm, with the United States and other countries guaranteeing that the movement would not pose a military threat to Israel, would not participate in future politics, and would also guarantee that there would be no tunnels.

Sources within Hamas confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that the movement's leadership has indeed proposed this idea, not just for ten years, but with the possibility of extending it further.

A responsible source explained that the movement had been open to this option since before the war, not after it. In fact, the idea had been on the table for years, but Israel was the one who rejected it.

The sources reiterated that the movement's leadership had not committed to any party that it would accept disarmament, considering this a Palestinian matter, and that it could only be done in one case: within a clear political path that would allow for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Hamas sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that this proposal—direct negotiations with Israel over a long-term truce agreement—has been frequently discussed within the movement's various frameworks. The sources indicated that at times, the proposal was raised by mediators, such as during the ceasefire negotiations of 2005 and 2014 following the Israeli war. It was then raised again in 2016, but without any results.

According to sources, the movement's policies and ideas are not closed, but rather open, and have evolved greatly over time.