CAIRO:Hamas has said that it sees no real guarantees in Israel’s new Gaza ceasefire proposal, according to a statement posted on its Teleg...
CAIRO:Hamas has said that it sees no real guarantees in Israel’s new Gaza ceasefire proposal, according to a statement posted on its Telegram channel.
"We have considered the new ceasefire proposal, which included the demand for Hamas’ disarmament and the release of Israeli hostages, but it provided no real guarantees that the war against the Palestinian people will be ended and Israeli troops will be withdrawn from Gaza," it said, however, not giving an unequivocal answer whether it rejects the proposal.
Late on Monday, Hamas confirmed that it had received the Gaza ceasefire proposal from the mediators and was considering the deal. According to the Al Hadath television channel, Hamas’ disarmament is one of the key conditions put forward by the Israeli side.
The Hamas-affiliated Maan agency reported on Monday that as part of the revised deal, Israel has proposed to resume the ceasefire in the enclave in exchange for the release of ten hostages, including Israeli-American citizen Edan Alexander. Under the Israeli initiative, it will withdraw its troops from areas of the Gaza Strip captured during the operation that was launched in mid-March during the 45-day ceasefire. Apart from that, it will open several checkpoints on the border with Gaza to ensure humanitarian deliveries to the enclave.
If the deal is ultimately made, Hamas may release 11 living hostages and hand over the bodies of 16 deceased hostages, the agency said, citing an official from Egypt, who is acting as a mediator. According to the official, this is quite likely "if the ceasefire period is extended to 70 days to make it possible to keep the situation in the enclave under control through the end of the Muslim Feast of Sacrifice (Eid al-Adha)," which starts in early June this year. Moreover, the extended ceasefire period will give time to engage in indirect talks on the third phase of the Hamas-Israeli agreement on a permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.
On March 18, Israel resumed hostilities in the Gaza Strip and delivered a series of strikes on Hamas targets, thus cutting short the ceasefire that had been in place in the enclave since January 2025. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office explained the move by Hamas' rejections of proposals advanced after talks with US envoy Steve Witkoff. It claimed that the goal of the operation was to release all of the Israeli hostages. Hamas placed responsibility for this latest spiral of escalation in Gaza on Israel and the United States.
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