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GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Hamas on Friday said it was ready to free an Israeli-American hostage and the remains of four other dual nationals, after the Palestinian militants and Israel gathered for indirect Gaza ceasefire talks.

The first phase of a truce between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip ended on March 1 without agreement on the next stages. A senior Hamas official said on Tuesday fresh talks had begun in Doha, with Israel also sending negotiators.

“Yesterday, a Hamas leadership delegation received a proposal from the brotherly mediators to resume negotiations,” the Islamist movement said in a statement.

It added that its reply “included its agreement to release the Israeli soldier Edan Alexander, who holds American citizenship, along with the remains of four others holding dual citizenship.”

A Hamas official, Taher Al-Nounou, said that “the five individuals that Hamas agreed to release under the new American proposal are Israeli prisoners holding American nationality.”

During the initial six-week phase of the ceasefire, militants released 33 hostages, including eight who were deceased, in exchange for about 1,800 Palestinian detainees held in Israeli prisons.

Militants also released five Thai captives outside the accord.

Israel has said it wants to extend the first phase of the ceasefire but Hamas has insisted on talks for the second phase of the deal which the United States, Qatar and Egypt had mediated and took effect on January 19.

Despite the expiry of the first phase, the ceasefire has largely held.

Israel’s military on Thursday said it carried out an air strike targeting militants who were planting explosives in central Gaza, the latest such strike.

Israel halted aid flows into Gaza 13 days ago over the truce impasse. At the weekend, it also cut off the electricity supply, which largely halted output from Gaza’s main water desalination plant.

On Thursday Hamas renewed a demand for Israeli troops to withdraw from south Gaza, accusing Israel of seeking to breach the ceasefire in talks on the next phase of the accord.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said that Israeli forces should have pulled out of a strip of land along the Gaza-Egypt border under the first phase.

Hamas has accused Israel of keeping troops in the strategic Philadelphi corridor. Israel has insisted it needs to maintain control of the corridor to prevent weapons smuggling into the Palestinian territory from Egypt.

Former US president Joe Biden had outlined a second phase involving the release of remaining living hostages, the withdrawal of all Israeli forces left in Gaza, and establishment of a permanent ceasefire.

Qassem indicated the corridor had become one of the sticking points at the Doha talks.

“Reports indicate new proposals are being presented aimed at circumventing the Gaza agreement,” he said.

“Meetings are continuing with mediators in Doha. We adhere to what was agreed upon and to entering into the second phase.”

But he insisted Israel must also fulfil its obligations “withdrawing from the entire Gaza Strip” and “begin the withdrawal from the Philadelphi Corridor” for any second phase deal to end the war that started with the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks against Israel.

“Israel has not implemented the humanitarian protocol of the Gaza agreement,” Qassem said.

“We do not want to return to war again, and if the occupation resumes its aggression, we have no choice but to defend our people,” the spokesman said.

Israeli media said on Thursday that Israel had called for several living and dead hostages – from the 58 still in Gaza – to be handed over in exchange for a 50-day extension to the ceasefire.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the reports “fake news.”

Hamas’ October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, while Israel’s military retaliation in Gaza killed more than 48,500, according to data from both sides.

ISTANBUL: The outlawed Kurdish PKK said it was currently “impossible” for its leadership to safely meet to formally dissolve the group in line with a demand by its jailed founder, Kurdish media reported Friday.
“Every day (Turkish) reconnaissance planes are flying overhead, they are carrying out daily bombings and every day they are attacking,” the PKK’s co-leader Cemil Bayik told the Kurdish television station, Sterk TV.
“Holding a congress in these conditions is impossible and very dangerous.”
His remarks came two weeks after Abdullah Ocalan, who founded the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), urged his fighters to disarm and disband, ending a decades-long insurgency that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
In his historic call – which took the form of a letter – he urged the PKK to hold a congress to formalize the decision.
Two days later, the PKK announced a ceasefire, saying it was ready to convene a congress but said “for this to happen, a suitable secure environment must be created,” insisting it would only succeed if Ocalan were to “personally direct and lead it.”
Bayik on Thursday said the congress would happen “if the conditions were fulfilled,” according to the PKK-aligned ANF news agency.
The PKK leadership is holed up in mountainous northern Iraq where Turkish forces have staged multiple air strikes in recent years, targeting the group which is also blacklisted by Washington and Brussels.
Despite the negotiations, there has been no indication that Turkish troops have stopped their operations against the PKK, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warning against any delaying tactics.
“If the promises given are not kept and an attempt is made to delay... we will continue our ongoing operations... until we eliminate the last terrorist,” Erdogan said on March 1.
On Wednesday, Erdogan said he would be willing to hold a meeting with a delegation from the pro-Kurdish DEM party – who played a key role in relaying messages between Ocalan and Ankara – “if they ask for it.”
The party confirmed requesting a meeting but said no date had been set.
Many are hoping Ocalan’s call will ultimately result in concessions for the Kurds, who make up around 20 percent of Turkiye’s 85 million population.