ISTANBUL – A Hamas official said Thursday that international mediators had resumed negotiations with the militant group and Israel over a ceasefire in Gaza, and that he hoped an agreement would end the conflict. 14 month war was within his reach.

Ceasefire negotiations were arrested last month when Qatar suspended negotiations with Egyptian and American mediators due to frustration over the lack of progress between Israel and Hamas. But there has been a “reactivation” of efforts in recent days to end the fighting, free the hostages from Gaza and free Palestinian prisoners in Israel, according to Bassem Naim, a Hamas political office official who spoke to The Associated Press in Türkiye.

Another official close to the talks confirmed the return of Qatari mediators. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the negotiations with the media.

Since the failure of the negotiations, significant changes have occurred in the global and regional landscape. Donald Trump won the US presidential election and a ceasefire was declared last week between Israel and Hezbollah, Hamas’s ally in Lebanon.

Trump is a strong supporter of Israel, but Naim said he believed the new administration could “affect the situation in a positive way,” given that Trump had made stopping wars in the region a part of his campaign program. Trump this week called for the release of all hostages detained in Gaza as he takes office on January 20, saying there would be “hell to pay” if this did not happen.

Previous rounds of negotiations have focused on variations of a proposal calling for a multi-phase ceasefire – starting with a preliminary six-week halt to fighting during which women, the elderly and hostages sick would be released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

Meanwhile, Israel would withdraw some forces and displaced Palestinians would be allowed to return home. The parties are also expected to begin negotiations on the next phase which would include the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces, the release of remaining hostages and the conditions for a definitive end to the war. A third and final phase would focus on reconstruction.

Naim said no new “robust and well-formulated” ceasefire proposal had yet been presented to Hamas. And although ceasefire talks repeatedly failed throughout the war, he added: “I think reaching an agreement is not a big challenge…if there are intentions to the other side. »

Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 people hostage. Israel’s violent retaliatory offensive has killed at least 44,500 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, whose tally does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

In negotiations to end the conflict, the two sides have disagreed on some major points, including whether a halt to fighting would be permanent or temporary, whether Israeli forces would withdraw from the entire enclave and according to what timetable. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would maintain a long-term military presence in the territory and pledged to dismantle Hamas’s military capabilities and ensure the militant group never rules again.

Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff met separately in recent weeks with Netanyahu and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani to discuss Gaza ceasefire talks, according to a US official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

In an interview with Britain’s Sky News on Wednesday, the Qatari prime minister said his country’s officials were seeking to achieve a ceasefire before President-elect Trump takes office.

Naim said Hamas is sticking to key demands it has pushed for in previous rounds of negotiations, including a permanent ceasefire, the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and the rights of Palestinians displaced people inside Gaza to return to their homes. But he also said the Palestinian militant group was “ready to show flexibility” in implementation, including regarding the timetable for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from key areas of Gaza.

A previous round of negotiations in August reached an impasse in part because Israel demanded that after any ceasefire it maintain a military presence in the Philadelphia Corridor, a strategic strip along the border of the enclave with Egypt, and in the Netzarim corridor which cuts from the east. to the west through the middle part of the territory.

“There can be a discussion on these points, but in the end, Israel must withdraw completely from the Philadelphia Corridor and the Rafah border (with Egypt) must be opened immediately,” Naim said.

Naim said Palestinian factions were also making progress in deciding who would politically rule Gaza after the war. He confirmed that Hamas and its rival Fatah – which dominates the Palestinian Authority supported by the West — reached an agreement in principle on the creation of a committee of Palestinian technocrats who would govern Gaza immediately after the war. Under the arrangement, Hamas would relinquish its political power over the enclave, but not lay down its arms.

“Originally, we are a Palestinian national liberation movement. We are not a movement to govern,” he said. “As for the military wing… as long as we are a people under occupation, we have the right to resist this occupation by all means, including armed resistance.

Israel says it will never let Hamas rule Gaza again and demands the group disarm.

Hamas political leader Khalil al-Hayya previously told AP that if an independent Palestinian state was established along the 1967 borders, the group would lay down its arms. Naim said that remained the group’s position.

“Resistance, including armed resistance, is a tool,” he said. “It’s not a goal in itself. »

___ Associated Press writers Josef Federman in Jerusalem and Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report.