Hamas wants to give a boost to contacts to free hostages from Gaza after the death of its leader, Yahia Sinwar, last week in an Israeli attack and pending the appointment of a successor. The Palestinian fundamentalist group is trying to prioritize the departure from the Strip of two kidnapped Russian nationals – two soldiers from the Israeli army – if an agreement is reached with Israel. The number two of the politburo (political council of Hamas), Mousa Abu Marzouk, presented this hypothetical movement as “a gesture” towards Moscow during a trip to the Russian capital, where he arrived on Wednesday. All this occurs at a time when the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, is trying to remain a relevant actor in the Middle East.
In exchange, the organization asks Moscow for help so that, once the war is over, it can promote a Palestinian government that does not exclude Hamas, which now rules in Gaza, but has no representation in the West Bank. On the contrary, Israel projects a future for the Strip in which Hamas is not present.
Hamas tries to remain under the umbrella of Russia as a counterweight to the United States, Israel’s main ally. Putin meets this Thursday with the president of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), Mahmud Abbas, during the BRICS summit being held in the Russian city of Kazan. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu maintains attacks throughout the Gaza Strip, oblivious to criticism for not prioritizing a ceasefire agreement that would facilitate the release of the hostages.
Marzouk’s are the first significant efforts since Israeli soldiers killed the Hamas leader in southern Gaza. The self-proclaimed Islamic Resistance Movement continues to fail to fill that void at the top. Another open question is who will take the reins of this possible truce with Israel that could open the door to the release of the 101 civilian and military captives who have remained in the Strip for more than a year. Around half could already be dead.
“We have discussed Palestinian national unity and the creation of a Government that should lead the Gaza Strip after the war. “We have discussed our point of view and the role of the Russian Federation,” Marzouk told the Ria Novosti news agency after meeting with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov. “And we have expressed our desire for the Russian side to talk to Abbas to encourage him to start negotiating in this regard,” he added.
“The Russian side had called for the release of people with Russian citizenship who are [retenidas] with Hamas. He requested the release of four people. Two of them were civilians and we freed them [en el anterior canje de rehenes por presos palestinos] without asking for anything in return, and the other two remaining are Israeli soldiers,” said the Hamas member.
One of the two hostages being talked about is Alexander Trufánov, 28, with dual Russian-Israeli nationality. “He is with Islamic Jihad. He is an army officer, he was captured during the fighting and will be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners who are in Israeli territory,” Marzouk promised, referring to the exchanges planned by the Palestinian group. Islamic Jihad published two videos with Trufanov’s words at the end of May. The other prisoner is Maxim Jarquin, 32, an Israeli soldier of Ukrainian origin. “At the time he was captured he was not a Russian citizen. His family traveled to Russia and got him citizenship so that Russia could help them free him,” explained the leadership of the fundamentalist group.
From Marzouk’s words it is clear that the two soldiers are alive and located. During the only week of truce agreed so far in the war, at the end of November 2023, there were daily exchanges of hostages for Palestinian prisoners. Since then, all attempts to reissue that ceasefire have failed.
The Kremlin plays an important behind-the-scenes role for Hamas. Marzouk has traveled to Russia at least three times over the year-long war, this last time while the country is hosting the BRICS summit. The Hamas official’s trip seeks to get Putin to pressure the Palestinian leader to integrate the fundamentalist movement into power and not be ostracized after the war. As a gesture of good will, he has promised the release of those two Russian-Israeli hostages.
Marzouk is Hamas’s liaison with Moscow. Between February 29 and March 1, the Russian capital hosted a round of consultations between all Palestinian factions in which this official of the Palestinian group advocated the formation of a unity government. “There are some differences on this issue between the Palestinian parties,” then admitted the member of the fundamentalist group, who placed the main problem in “the external interference of the United States and Israel in Palestinian affairs.” These days he has once again addressed this point with the Russian authorities. Furthermore, Marzouk has denied that the fundamentalist militia requested military support from Russia. “What it really needs is Russia’s help in humanitarian terms or in its support in the UN Security Council,” he clarified.
This latest visit to Russia takes place amid criticism of Netanyahu for continuing to prioritize the war solution instead of focusing on negotiating the truce that would facilitate the release of the kidnapped people. The occupation troops maintain their attacks throughout the Strip, especially in the north, where they have carried out an intense offensive with hundreds of deaths since the beginning of October.