Jeremy Scahill and Jawa Ahmad
Aug 12, 2025
Trump should reject Netanyahu’s agenda, said Basem Naim, moving instead to end the Gaza genocide and support an independent Palestine: “It is not about Hamas.”
During the past three weeks, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has overseen a significant escalation of Israeli terror bombings throughout Gaza and has announced plans for a full scale invasion of Gaza City, the prospects for a deal to end the genocide have been on life support. In late July, Israel withdrew its negotiating delegation from Qatar; the U.S. did the same, denouncing Hamas and mischaracterizing its response to a draft ceasefire framework. Now, the U.S., Qatar, and Egypt—as well as Turkey, behind the scenes—appear to be trying to restart the process.
The Trump administration reportedly wants to shift from negotiating phased “piecemeal deals” to one that would result in the freeing of all Israeli captives, living and dead, upon signing an agreement.
On Tuesday, multiple news outlets, citing Egyptian officials, reported that regional mediators were working with the U.S. to “revive” a 60-day ceasefire framework touted by U.S. President Donald Trump in early July as the “final” proposal for a deal. “The main objective is to return to the initial proposal for establishing a 60-day ceasefire, with the release of some hostages and some Palestinian detainees, and the flow of humanitarian and medical assistance to Gaza without restrictions, without conditions,” said Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Atty during a press conference.
Netanyahu told i24 News he was not in favor of a partial ceasefire deal. “I think it’s behind us. In any case, that would leave many hostages in their hands, both living and dead. And we want them all, both living and dead. And that’s what we are going for,” he said Tuesday. “I am not telling you that I won’t be willing to discuss it. I want to bring them all back as part of ending the war. But on our terms of ending the war.” Nonetheless, Israel is reportedly considering sending a “high-level” negotiating team back to Doha to resume talks with mediators.
All of these discussions and media leaks about purported new and competing proposals are, to date, taking place without the direct participation of the only party that has the ability to make such deals: Hamas. “We are ready to go for a partial deal, or even for a comprehensive deal. But it is about the seriousness—how committed Israel is, and also the Americans—to reach a deal to end this war, but not to use negotiations as an umbrella for other evil plans,” said Basem Naim, a senior Hamas official and a former minister in the Palestinian government in Gaza.
“We were trapped for 30 years in this so-called Oslo agreement to chase illusions,” Naim added, referring to the accords between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel in the 1990s that theoretically would have led to the establishment of a two-state arrangement requiring Palestinians to formally surrender huge parts of historic Palestine. “Israel was using this time to extend its settlements, to expel Palestinians out of their land, to undermine the existence of Palestinians, to take over Al Aqsa mosque. I think we are not ready to be part of such a dirty game again.”
Hamas announced on Tuesday that a delegation led by its top political leader Khalil Al-Hayya had arrived in Cairo to hold talks with Egyptian officials beginning on Wednesday. “The visit was requested by the [Egyptian] intelligence services and there is no specific agenda,” Naim said. “But there will certainly be discussions about the negotiations, the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza, and the internal Palestinian situation.”
In a wide-ranging interview with Drop Site, Naim discussed the state of ceasefire negotiations, Hamas’s position on relinquishing power and its stance on disarmament of Palestinian resistance forces.
Naim said his message to Trump is that he should reject Netanyahu’s agenda of extermination and move to secure a deal that ends the Gaza genocide and leads to an independent Palestinian state. “It is not about Hamas. Even if, at some point, God forbid, if they reach a point to crush Hamas, sooner or later—a few months, a few years—they will have a new group of Palestinians who will stand up and fight back again,” he said. “Palestinians are fighting now for 100 years to achieve their legitimate goals of living like any people around the world, free and dignified, in their own independent, self sovereign state, to also preserve their right of return to their homeland.”
For more than two decades, Hamas has, on multiple occasions, offered Israel proposals for a long-term truce, known in Arabic as a hudna. Israel has rejected them all. Most recently, in late April, Hamas formally proposed a multi-year deal during which its forces would agree not to engage in any attacks against Israel. As part of the agreement, Hamas would immediately release all Israeli captives held in Gaza. The idea was that this arrangement would allow the space and security to negotiate an enduring political resolution. Israel once again rebuked the offer and continued to expand its military assault on Gaza.
Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, met last weekend with Qatar’s prime minister to discuss the U.S. preference for an “all or nothing” deal to end the war. On Monday, Trump referenced Netanyahu’s announced plan to escalate the military assault, including “taking over” Gaza City, and attempting to retrieve Israeli captives by force, telling Axios it would be “very rough to get them,” because Hamas “are not going to let the hostages out in the current situation.”
Though the Trump administration has indicated that it wants an omnibus deal to release all Israeli captives at once, in recent weeks it has not engaged with Hamas on any specifics. “This was our proposal three months ago, and they have rejected this,” Naim said. “We have no problem going back to this proposal as long as it is based on a long term road map, how to end this war and how to end this conflict.”
Naim reiterated that Hamas will not release any more Israeli captives outside of a deal that ensures a total end to the war and a withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
“The U.S. has given the Israelis all the time. They have given them all the support, political support, diplomatic support, financial support, military support, intelligence support, and the Israelis have failed to accomplish the mission,” Naim said. “They have failed to retrieve their soldiers or the captured Israelis. They have failed to crush the resistance. They have failed to force the evacuation of Palestinians. They have failed to create an alternative to Hamas, because it is clear it is not about Hamas, it is not about some prisoners. It is about people who want to live again, free and dignified, like any people around the world. Therefore, there’s no alternative to a just and fair negotiating table.”
“I think there is a great political opportunity today,” Naim said. “President Trump, if he’s serious about his promises during the campaign, he has a chance to do it once and forever.”
The alternative, Naim warned, is an escalation of violence, bloodshed, and instability that will extend far beyond Gaza. “By this unwavering support for Israel, they are destabilizing the region more and more and they will never achieve their goals of a new peaceful, prosperous Middle East,” Naim asserted. “The current leadership in Israel, which is to us a fascist and racist government, is converting this conflict from a political conflict about statehood, about borders, about people, into a religious conflict. And if this happens and we reach an irreversible point—if it becomes a religious conflict—there will be no chance for negotiations because then you are negotiating about beliefs and I think no one will compromise.”
Both Israel and the U.S. have stated that the demilitarization of the Palestinian resistance in the Gaza Strip would be required as part of any deal. Hamas has consistently stated that this is a red line, a point Naim emphasized. “No one can deny us the right to resist the occupation as long as we have the occupation here,” Naim said. “We are ready to hand over our weapons if we have a state and we are ready to engage to integrate our fighters in a Palestinian army. Why should Palestine be a disarmed state? Why? Who is the aggressor?”
“For 76 years, it was Israel,” he added. “Therefore, if someone has to ask for security or for any arrangements of protection, it’s the Palestinians, it’s not the Israelis.”
“We are ready to hand over the government”
On July 23, Hamas submitted a series of proposed amendments to the 60-day ceasefire framework drafted by the U.S., which Israel claimed to have agreed to. The movement had already offered a series of concessions embedded within the document and focused on securing three specific terms: that sufficient quantities of food, medicine, and other life essentials be allowed into Gaza and that the UN retake the lead in its distribution; that Israeli military forces withdraw entirely from the enclave, though Hamas said it would agree to a buffer zone encircling the Gaza Strip; and that, in exchange for releasing ten living Israeli captives, Israel would free 200 Palestinians serving life sentences and 2,000 Palestinians snatched from Gaza since October 7.
Israel, Naim said, has still not submitted an official response and instead announced it was withdrawing its negotiating team from the talks in Doha, Qatar.
“We are still in the negotiation process. We are waiting for the reply from the Israelis. They didn’t, until now, reply. On the contrary, they have responded by announcing new plans to escalate. And I think this is very, very dangerous,” said Naim.
Trump told Axios that his position was that Hamas could not remain in power in Gaza, but said this was for Israel to decide. “I have one thing to say: Remember October 7, remember October 7,” Trump said.
As Drop Site has reported, Hamas has explicitly stated, in writing, that it would relinquish its governance of Gaza to an independent technocratic committee of Palestinians with no party affiliation. Each time Hamas has proposed this term as part of a ceasefire deal, Israel and the U.S. have removed this aspect from deal proposals and falsely accused Hamas of insisting on remaining in power.
Naim affirmed Hamas’s publicly stated pledge that it would give up power in Gaza and support a process that leads to a so-called two state solution along the borders of the pre-1967 Arab-Israeli war with east Jerusalem as the capital of an independent Palestine.
“The bottom line is to end the war, the total withdrawal of the Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, an agreed ceasefire, opening the borders, allowing aid to enter the Gaza Strip, and the launching of a reconstruction operation,” Naim said. “We have said from day one we are ready to hand over the government, or the ruling of the Gaza Strip, to an independent technocratic Palestinian body.” Naim said this committee should work to reestablish coordination with Palestinian counterparts in the Ramallah-based administration in the occupied West Bank as part of an effort to formally unify the two territories, whose governance has been splintered since Hamas won the 2006 Palestinian legislative elections. Fatah, backed by the U.S. and other parties, aimed to marginalize Hamas as the elected party, deny its ability to form a government, and facilitated a civil war between Hamas and Fatah, with Hamas taking over the Gaza Strip and Fatah, under Abbas, becoming the governing authority in the West Bank.
On Tuesday, the Egyptian Foreign Minister confirmed that the proposal to administer Gaza involves a 15-member committee that would be supervised by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority for an initial period of six months. “We are talking about purely technocratic people who have no political affiliations,” said Naim, adding that a range of Palestinian political groups submitted suggested candidates to Egypt for review. “I hear that [the Egyptians] have also discussed this with the Israelis and the Americans, and there was a positive stance.” He added that none of the candidates have any connection to Hamas.
Naim contended that installing a non-partisan committee to administer the Strip would open a space to address the internal Palestinian political challenges, including the establishment of a new democratically-elected government. “We believe that there is a chance to rebuild, or to reform, the internal Palestinian situation by forming a unity government,” he said, adding that such an entity could organize new elections.
“Abbas is recognized internationally as a Palestinian president, but the last election when he was chosen as president is now more than 20 years ago. More than 60% of Palestinians haven’t voted at all in their life,” Naim contended. “You cannot build a political solution based on a leadership which does not represent more than 5 to 10 percent of the Palestinians.”
“One of the core issues which has to be tackled and fixed is to give the Palestinians a chance to choose their leadership, to reform their political institutions and political system. And this can be done only by giving the Palestinians a chance to go for independent, free, democratic, transparent, fair elections,” Naim added. “We are ready to be part of, engaged in, or facilitating any serious political discussions to reach a political solution for this conflict that ends with an independent, sovereign Palestinian state.”
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