Media: US presses Israel to allow safe passage for trapped Hamas fighters

The United States and other mediators are urging Israel to grant safe passage to approximately 150 Hamas militants trapped in tunnels beneath an Israeli-controlled area of southern Gaza, in exchange for their surrender of weapons.

The militants are believed to be hiding underground in a zone behind the so-called Yellow Line, an area from which Israeli forces withdrew under the ceasefire agreement brokered by US President Donald Trump last month, Financial Times reports.

Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, said that he had discussed the matter with Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. Witkoff described the situation as a potential “test” for broader efforts to achieve the complete disarmament of Hamas.

The fate of the trapped militants has become a key issue after renewed clashes between the group and Israeli forces strained the fragile ceasefire in recent weeks.

A source familiar with the negotiations said Israel had been close to finalizing a deal earlier this month. However, domestic political tensions intervened, with far-right members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition — including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich — publicly opposing any such arrangement.

“The goal of the war was to disarm Hamas. So if they get out free, it’s going against one of the war goals,” the source said. “Everyone is under pressure to reach an agreement. It will probably be resolved eventually, but the creative solution hasn’t been presented yet.”

Since the ceasefire took effect, there have been multiple exchanges of fire between Israeli troops and militants still trapped behind the Yellow Line. Two Israeli soldiers were killed in one of last month’s skirmishes, prompting Israel to launch heavy air strikes that killed dozens — the most serious challenge to the ceasefire so far.

Hamas has claimed that it lost contact with its fighters in southern Gaza in March and did not order them to attack Israeli forces. The Israeli military rejected this assertion as an “excuse,” with Defence Minister Israel Katz declaring that he had ordered the army to destroy all remaining tunnels in Gaza.

“If there are no tunnels, there is no Hamas,” Katz wrote on X.

Israeli media have speculated that the trapped militants may be holding the body of Hadar Goldin, an Israeli soldier killed during the 2014 conflict between Israel and Hamas — a body that Hamas is obligated to return under the terms of the ceasefire. However, Israeli military officials said they had no evidence supporting this claim.

Under the current ceasefire agreement, Hamas released the final 20 living hostages it held in Gaza in exchange for Israel’s release of 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. The militant group was also required to return the remains of 28 deceased hostages, of which it has so far returned 22.

By Vafa Guliyeva