A large, high-level leadership delegation from Hamas visited Cairo on Saturday and held talks and discussions described as extremely important with the Egyptian mediator.

The Hamas delegation included: Mohammed Darwish, head of the movement's Supreme Leadership Council, and council members: Khaled Meshaal, head of Hamas abroad; Dr. Khalil al-Hayya, head of Hamas in the Gaza Strip; Azhar Jabareen, head of Hamas in the West Bank; and Nizar Awadallah, secretary of the Supreme Leadership Council.

The delegation held talks with Egyptian officials in Cairo for more than ten consecutive hours, according to informed sources following the talks, who spoke to Al-Quds newspaper.

This round of meetings between the Hamas delegation and the Egyptian mediator aims to revive the ceasefire agreement in Gaza, which Israel unilaterally violated last month by resuming its bombing of the Gaza Strip.

Informed sources told Al-Quds newspaper that the Hamas delegation came to discuss Israel's response to the movement's vision, which it presented in the past few days to Egyptian and Qatari mediators. The vision stipulates a ceasefire and an end to the war and a prisoner exchange based on a comprehensive deal, including a full withdrawal, reconstruction, lifting the blockade, a prisoner exchange, and the commencement of the independent community committee to administer Gaza, which had previously been agreed upon, to carry out its duties.

Sources reported that Hamas's vision included a proposal to sign a long-term truce, potentially extending from five to ten years, with regional and international guarantees.

The vision stipulates that after agreement on this framework, the situation will return to what it was before March 2, 2025, in terms of the cessation of military operations, the withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces to what they were in accordance with the agreement signed on January 17, 2025, and the re-entry of relief aid in accordance with the signed humanitarian protocol.

Hamas's vision, discussed yesterday between the Hamas delegation and Egyptian officials, is in line with the speech delivered on April 17 by Khalil al-Hayya, in which he expressed the movement's readiness to begin negotiations on the comprehensive package. In his speech, he stressed Hamas's opposition to the partial agreements, which he said Netanyahu and his government are exploiting as a cover for their political agenda based on continuing the war of extermination and starvation, even if the price is sacrificing all their prisoners, as stated in al-Hayya's speech.

Over the past few weeks, he had presented Hamas with a short-term proposal, extending for 45 days, aimed at paving the way for talks on a permanent ceasefire.

This proposal appears to eliminate key elements of the framework from the original three-stage agreement signed by Hamas and Israel last January, which would have resulted in a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and a permanent ceasefire.

Drafts of the new proposal previously presented to Hamas by the mediators included major changes that Hamas did not accept, including disarming Gaza and expelling its remaining military leadership abroad.

According to the draft proposal presented to Hamas, once the agreement is signed, Israel will halt its military attacks and overflights, in exchange for Hamas releasing Israeli-American dual national Idan Alexander as a special gesture to the United States.

On the second day of the agreement, Hamas will release five living Israeli prisoners in exchange for 66 Palestinians serving life sentences and 611 others arrested by Israel in Gaza over the past 18 months. These prisoners will be released simultaneously according to an agreed-upon mechanism, without any military parades or festive scenes as in the past.

Following this initial exchange, the Israeli military will begin withdrawing its forces from Rafah and northern Gaza. Under the original agreement, Israel was scheduled to begin a full withdrawal of its forces at the end of the first phase. Under the new proposal presented by the mediators, Israel will not return its forces to their March 2 positions, leaving them stationed in various locations in Gaza without a clear timetable for a full withdrawal.

According to the proposal presented to Hamas, Israel will also lift its comprehensive blockade on the Strip on the second day of the agreement, and the flow of humanitarian aid will resume under the previously agreed-upon "Humanitarian Protocol." This includes the delivery of an unspecified amount of equipment and supplies needed to establish shelters for the displaced.

On the third day of the proposed agreement presented to Hamas, negotiations will begin under the supervision of mediators regarding the arrangements necessary for a permanent ceasefire. The proposal stipulates that this process should be completed within 45 days, with the possibility of extending it through the exchange of additional prisoners. By the end of the negotiations, all 59 remaining Israeli prisoners, alive and dead, will be returned to Israel, and a large number of Palestinians held by Israel will be released.

The proposal stated: "The mediators (the United States, Egypt, and Qatar) will make every effort to ensure the completion of the above-mentioned negotiations to reach an agreement on permanent ceasefire arrangements, in line with their commitment to achieving this goal."

The issue of a permanent ceasefire and a ceasefire, which Hamas demands and emphasized in its vision presented to mediators and which was discussed during Saturday's talks between the senior Hamas leadership delegation and Egyptian officials under the single package agreement, remains the most intractable obstacle to the success of these negotiations. The proposal presented to Hamas calls for its acceptance of the continued military occupation of Gaza, its disarmament, and the exile of its military leadership abroad.

While the original ceasefire agreement of January 17 stipulated a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza in the second phase, the new proposal from the mediators refers only to an Israeli military redeployment and an agreed-upon "security perimeter."

Hamas has repeatedly affirmed its commitment to the January 2025 framework agreement and rejected Israeli attempts to impose any new conditions or demands. However, Hamas has expressed its willingness to engage in an interim agreement provided that it obligates Israel to return to the original framework previously signed.

The proposal presented by the mediators to Hamas also includes a highly complex point, one of the most controversial issues on the Palestinian and Arab streets. The proposal calls for the disarmament of the factions in the Gaza Strip. Hamas has repeatedly emphasized that it will not lay down its weapons until a Palestinian state is established and a national army is formed, joined by all the military wings of the Palestinian resistance forces and factions. Meanwhile, Israel insists that it will not agree to end the war in Gaza and halt the genocide unless Hamas surrenders, disarms, and exiles its military leaders.

Saturday's talks in Cairo come just days after the Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister held a series of meetings in Washington with senior US officials, including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

An Egyptian official familiar with the discussions between the Hamas delegation and Egyptian officials said, "The current proposal presented by Egypt to Hamas is largely in line with the proposal Hamas agreed to on March 29, but which Israel rejected."

The source concluded that the new conditions set by Israel regarding disarmament and the lack of a clear path to complete the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza faced strong resistance from Hamas negotiators yesterday, leaving matters at a standstill between Hamas’s vision and insistence on a comprehensive package agreement and a complete and permanent ceasefire to end the war, with a long-term truce that could extend for the next ten years, and the partial proposal proposed by Israel for 45 days with the fulfillment of the conditions for Hamas to disarm itself and the rest of the Palestinian resistance forces, and the expulsion of the remaining Hamas military leadership outside the Gaza Strip.