On paper, both sides in the US-led Gaza ceasefire talks in Cairo are working towards the same goals: a cessation of hostilities and the exchange of Israeli captives for Palestinian prisoners.
Yet, as Hamas sees it, the Palestinian movement and the Israelis are worlds apart.
The Israeli government, under domestic pressure, prioritises the release of people taken captive on 7 October.
Hamas, meanwhile, seeks not only a complete end to the war, but a future where Gaza is liberated from the blockade Israel has imposed on the coastal enclave for the past 16 years.
“The problem is, I think, that we have a strategy, and the strategy that we negotiate through is the strategy of a ceasefire, and not the strategy of a hostage exchange,” says Hamas official Basem Naim…..more
