Hamas piles on new demands for ceasefire deal amid hostage threats - NYT

Hamas has added new demands to its list of conditions for a Gaza ceasefire-hostage deal, the New York Times reported on Friday, citing one Arab and a number of American officials.

These new demands were added after the terror group announced last week that they would begin murdering the hostages should IDF forces get too close. 

Hamas’s new execution policy was reportedly put in place after Operation Arnon, which saw four captives rescued in June. 

Following Hamas’s new policy, the bodies of six hostages were recovered from a tunnel in Rafah. The IDF said they were killed only days before the military arrived.  

According to the NYT, Qatar’s prime minister has been pushing for the Gaza-based terror group to compromise on its deal conditions. After months of this pressure, Hamas dropped the additions to the deal. However, two American officials claimed that the terms of Hamas’s agreement have returned to the table. 

Hamas adds new demands

Anonymous sources told the NYT that Hamas increased the number of security prisoners it demanded to be released in the opening phase of the deal.

Qatar also reportedly offered Hamas three alternatively worded compromise agreements, according to Husam Badran, a senior Hamas official based in Qatar. Badran added that Hamas representatives chose one of these alternatives.

The terror group also agreed to focus on the hostage-prisoner swap with a possibility to look at other issues.

“We did that because we’re keen on the issue of a ceasefire,” Badran said. “If there are some phrases that will make the negotiations easier and lead to the same result - the end of the war - we have no problem.”

One of the said issues is the Philadelphi Corridor, from which Hamas demands an Israeli withdrawal.

Officials said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had also added to Israel’s demands for a deal.