According to the official, who did not reveal his identity, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken delivered this request to his Qatari counterpart last April.
According to the newspaper, citing three diplomats familiar with the matter, officials in Qatar had expected the request for months, but these expectations had sharpened in recent weeks amid growing frustration on the part of the United States over the failure to reach a ceasefire in Gaza.
The Washington Post indicated that one of the diplomats confirmed that Qatari officials advised Hamas leaders to develop a backup plan if they were forced to leave.
Hamas announced on Friday that it would send a delegation to Cairo on Saturday to resume ceasefire talks in Gaza in a “positive spirit.”
The movement said in a statement published on its website, “The Hamas delegation will head to Cairo on Saturday to complete the discussions.”
The statement added, “While we emphasize the positive spirit with which the movement’s leadership responded when it studied the ceasefire proposal that it recently received, we are going to Cairo in this same spirit to reach an agreement.”
He continued, “We in the Hamas movement and the Palestinian resistance forces are determined to mature the agreement in a way that achieves the demands of our people to stop the aggression completely, withdraw the occupation forces, return the displaced, provide relief to our people, begin reconstruction, and complete a serious exchange deal.”
A senior Hamas official said that the movement’s prominent leader, Khalil al-Hayya, would head the delegation.
The mediators, the United States, Egypt and Qatar, are awaiting a response from Hamas to an Israeli proposal that includes a ceasefire in Gaza for 40 days and the exchange of dozens of hostages with a larger number of Palestinian detainees. The head of the Hamas Political Bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, stressed on Thursday the “positive spirit” surrounding the study of the proposal.
Israel says that Hamas killed 1,200 people during its attack on southern Israel on October 7, which sparked the conflict.
On the other hand, the Israeli army says that more than 600 of its soldiers have been killed in military operations since then.
According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, at least 34,000 Palestinians were killed and more than 77,000 others were injured as a result of the Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip since October 7.
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