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The US and other mediators are pressing Israel to grant safe passage to about 150 Hamas militants trapped underground in an Israeli-controlled part of Gaza, in exchange for them giving up their weapons.
The militants are in tunnels in an area in southern Gaza behind the so-called Yellow Line, to which Israeli forces withdrew as part of the ceasefire agreement brokered by US President Donald Trump last month.
Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said on Thursday he had discussed the issue with Israel’s strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer and Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan. The outcome could be a “test” for further efforts to disarm Hamas, Witkoff said.
The fate of the militants has emerged as a crucial question after clashes between the group and Israeli forces brought the ceasefire under severe strain last month.
Israel was close to agreeing a deal earlier this month, said a person familiar with the situation. But politics intervened, with far-right members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, including finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, publicly opposing any deal.
“The goal of the war was to disarm Hamas. So if they get out free, it’s going against one of the war goals,” the person said.
“Everyone is under pressure” to reach an agreement, they added. “It will probably be resolved eventually, but the creative solution hasn’t been presented yet.”
Since the ceasefire took effect last month, there have been several exchanges of fire between militants trapped behind the Yellow Line and Israeli forces. Two Israeli soldiers were killed in one skirmish last month, prompting Israel to respond with massive air strikes that killed dozens of people, in the most serious test of the ceasefire so far.
Hamas has said it lost contact with the fighters in southern Gaza in March and that it had not ordered them to attack Israeli forces.
The Israeli military disputed this claim, saying it was just an “excuse”. Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz said on Friday he had ordered the Israeli army to destroy all remaining tunnels in Gaza.
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“If there are no tunnels, there is no Hamas,” he wrote on the social media platform X.
Israeli media have speculated that the militants were in possession of the body of Hadar Goldin — an Israeli soldier killed during a 2014 war between Israel and Hamas — which Hamas is required to return under the ceasefire deal.
However, the Israeli military said it had no information to suggest this was the case.
As part of the ceasefire deal, Hamas released the final 20 living hostages it held in Gaza in exchange for the release of 2,000 Palestinians from Israeli jails. It was also required to release the bodies of 28 dead hostages. So far, it has returned 22.