Middle East war
Hamas accepts ceasefire proposal – Israel is said to find it “unacceptable”.
Khan Yunis in ruins. Will the people of the Gaza Strip soon be able to live without bloody fighting?
© Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images
Will the weapons in the Gaza Strip soon fall silent? Hamas has agreed to a proposal for a ceasefire. But Israel replies: It contains conclusions that it does not agree with.
The Islamist Hamas says it has agreed to a proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza war put forward by mediators Egypt and Qatar. The organization announced this on its Telegram channel.
Hamas foreign chief Ismail Haniya informed Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamal about the decision by telephone.
Israel is still silent – at least officially
It also remained unclear exactly what content of the proposal Hamas had agreed to. However, Hamas circles in the Lebanese capital Beirut said it was a “key development”.
It was also unclear whether this was a proposal that Israel had also agreed to, as the negotiations were conducted “indirectly”. The Israeli television station Channel 12 reported that Israel was waiting for information from the mediators.
According to the Reuters news agency, the proposal is “unacceptable” for Israel. According to an insider, it is a “softened” Egyptian draft. This contains “far-reaching” conclusions with which Israel does not agree.
According to Channel 12, an unnamed cabinet member spoke of a deceptive maneuver by Hamas to portray Israel as an objector.
Talks moved from Qatar to Egypt
Israel and Hamas have not been negotiating directly with each other for months, but there are talks. Their focus was recently moved from Qatar to Egypt.
In total, terrorists from Hamas and other extremist organizations kidnapped more than 250 people into the Gaza Strip on October 7th. During a week-long ceasefire at the end of November last year, Hamas released 105 hostages. In return, Israel released 240 Palestinian prisoners from its prisons. It was recently feared that of the 133 hostages still believed to be in the Gaza Strip, many are no longer alive.
Hamas demands complete Israeli withdrawal
Hamas continued to demand a comprehensive ceasefire, including a complete withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip. Israel, which has declared the complete destruction of Hamas as its goal, has so far rejected this.
Foreign Minister Israel Katz recently said his country was ready to postpone the announced military operation in the city of Rafah if a deal to release hostages was reached. It was only on Monday that the Israeli military called on people in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip to evacuate.