With the US and Israeli delegations abruptly pulling out of the latest round of ceasefire negotiations, international mediation efforts to end the Gaza war have ground to a halt.
But beneath the surface of diplomatic collapse lies another, quieter obstacle: an internal communication breakdown within Hamas, the Palestinian movement leading the military resistance against Israel.
Senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya, speaking in a televised address, revealed on Sunday that the group had made "significant progress" during recent talks in Doha.
"We reached broad agreement on the proposals presented by the mediators, particularly on the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the prisoner exchange, and the entry of humanitarian aid," he said.
"The mediators even conveyed to us positive responses from the Israeli side. However, we were surprised by Israel's sudden withdrawal from the talks, which was echoed by the US President's envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff," he added.
Al-Hayya condemned the move as "a blatant and transparent manoeuvre aimed at wasting time and continuing the genocide of our people," accusing the Israeli side of using negotiations to deflect criticism and shift blame.
He warned that Israel's approach, including objections to aid distribution mechanisms overseen by the UN and local institutions, sought to undermine both humanitarian response and Palestinian agency.
"We categorically reject the idea that our people, their suffering, and the blood of our children be used as pawns in Israel's manipulative tactics," he said.
"There is no meaning to negotiations under siege, genocide, and starvation," al-Hayya said. "The immediate and dignified entry of food and medicine is the true test of whether these talks can continue."
This rhetorical escalation comes amid growing concerns that Hamas itself is grappling with an internal coordination crisis, one that is hampering its ability to make swift, coherent decisions at a time of existential threat.
Hamas has long prided itself on a tightly-knit, hierarchical structure linking its political bureau abroad with its military command inside the Gaza Strip.
This dual-front coordination allowed Hamas to navigate previous rounds of conflict with agility and unified messaging, but since Israel's launch of a full-scale war on Gaza in October 2023, which has devastated the territory's infrastructure and fragmented its population, the organisational fabric that once held the movement together appears to be under unprecedented strain, according to sources within the movement.
Fragmented command among rubble
Speaking to The New Arab, multiple sources confirm that Hamas's communication lines between its internal and external leadership have been severely disrupted.
"We now operate on a semi-manual basis […] Most messages are delivered through verbal transmission by trusted field operatives or by mobile paper notes, which delays any strategic or tactical decision-making by several days," a senior Hamas political official told TNA on condition of anonymity.
The situation affects both directions of communication. External leaders in Doha, Beirut, and Istanbul struggle to access reliable, real-time updates about conditions in Gaza, whether humanitarian, political, or military, according to Ayman Shahin, a Palestinian political expert from Gaza.
"During the current war, what Hamas gets are fragmented images, largely through indirect channels such as Egyptian or Qatari intelligence services," Shahin told TNA.
Despite this paralysis, Hamas has sought to reassure its supporters that its political and military wings remain in sync. On July 18, Abu Obeida, spokesperson for Hamas's military wing, al-Qassam Brigades, made a rare public appearance via a pre-recorded video.
He voiced unequivocal support for the movement's negotiating delegation and emphasised that Hamas continued to monitor the talks.
"We strongly support the position of the movement's negotiating delegation in the indirect negotiations," Abu Obeida said.
He stressed Hamas's continued offer of a "comprehensive deal" to release all Israeli captives in exchange for a total cessation of hostilities and withdrawal of Israeli forces.
However, Abu Obeida noted that Israel had rejected such proposals, warning that "continued Israeli intransigence will eliminate any chance for partial deals going forward."
While symbolically significant, Shahin argued that Abu Obeida's speech reflects more a calculated morale-boosting move than operational coherence.
"It was intended to reassure the popular base more than it was evidence of daily, effective communication," he said.
"The timing of the speech [following months of silence] indicates that the link between the field and the political leadership remains severely compromised. The movement is likely managing decisions based on partial intelligence, which hampers coordination in both military resistance and political negotiations," he added.
Negotiating in the dark
The consequences of this communication breakdown are most apparent at the negotiation table, where delays in Hamas's responses to proposals have become routine.
According to Ahed Ferwana, a Gaza-based expert on Israeli affairs, this lag has become a strategic consideration for Israel.
"Tel Aviv is deliberately accelerating the negotiation pace, knowing that Hamas cannot respond quickly. Each time mediators present a new draft, it takes Hamas upwards of 72 hours to formulate a position, which is often pieced together from multiple sources and not always fully representative of Hamas's stance," Ferwana told TNA.
Ferwana argues that Israel is exploiting these gaps to present Hamas as divided and disorganised, particularly in international forums and media.
"It reinforces the Israeli narrative that Hamas is incapable of coherent governance, and this has political repercussions," he added.
A Palestinian security source familiar with the current operational procedures within al-Qassam Brigades noted that senior commanders now change locations daily and strictly avoid any form of electronic communication.
"These leaders rely on prearranged meeting points to exchange handwritten messages, often with several layers of secrecy," the source said. "While this method has proven effective in preventing Israeli surveillance, it slows everything down, especially urgent updates related to prisoners or bombing damage to key facilities."
This clandestine mode of operation is reminiscent of Cold War-era underground resistance cells, but with the added complexity of modern warfare.
Palestinian political analysts believe that Hamas is facing not ideological division, but what might be termed a form of war-induced institutional paralysis.
"Hamas is not fragmented politically, but its functionality is devastated," Adnan Samara, a writer and analyst from the West Bank, told TNA.
"The infrastructure that connected the movement's political, military, and social wings has collapsed. You cannot make or implement decisions without a functioning apparatus—and that’s been bombed into the ground," he said.
Samara believes this paralysis is now a key factor shaping the ongoing negotiations.
"Even when the political bureau is open to tactical concessions, it cannot verify whether the field leadership can enforce them. The lack of feedback makes every decision a gamble," he explained.
This vulnerability has not gone unnoticed by Israel. "The Israeli government is betting on Hamas's inability to coordinate under pressure. Every delay, every inconsistency, is being framed as evidence that the movement is unfit to govern or negotiate," Samara added.
Mediators struggle with a disjointed movement
The dysfunction is also affecting international mediators, particularly Egypt and Qatar, who have traditionally acted as conduits between Hamas and Israel.
In past negotiations over previous Israeli wars, Cairo and Doha could rely on clear channels with Hamas's leadership. Today, those channels are no longer reliable easily.
According to a Palestinian official close to the mediation process, the mediators "feel more like message couriers than negotiators."
He said, "They are shuttling between parties that are no longer in sync. Sometimes the person giving the answer in Gaza does not have full authority or visibility, and this affects the legitimacy of the process."
A Hamas official following up on the negotiations acknowledged the dilemma. "Security overrides everything right now," he said. "We can't risk any direct contact, even via encrypted apps, because any slip-up could lead to targeted assassinations. It's a necessity, but one that carries political costs."
"Effective negotiations require centralisation, clarity, and fast decision-making. None of that exists now, not because of internal rivalry, but because we’re operating amid a genocide," he added.
As a result, Palestinian observers warned that unless this communication crisis within Hamas is resolved, any prospect of a lasting truce will remain distant.
The challenge now is not only Israel's maximalist demands or the absence of trust, but also the sheer difficulty of assembling a coherent Palestinian response under such fragmented conditions, according to the analysts.
"The mediators face a daunting task: dealing with an entity that functions more like wartime underground resistance than a centralised political actor," Esmat Mansour, a Ramallah-based political analyst, told TNA.
"While Hamas's resilience in the face of overwhelming firepower has been repeatedly demonstrated, its ability to govern and negotiate under siege remains severely impaired," he said.
As ceasefire efforts drag on, he believes, the international community may need to reassess its assumptions about how to approach Hamas, not just as a political actor but as an entity fighting to function amid a near-total collapse.
Until then, he says, the prospects for peace remain shackled by both external violence and internal fragmentation.