Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip continued even as Hamas considered the Witkoff ceasefire plan. Photo / Getty Images
Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip continued even as Hamas considered the Witkoff ceasefire plan. Photo / Getty Images
Hamas appears to have rejected a US-led ceasefire deal with Israel, insisting that there can only be peace if Israel Defence Forces troops leave the Gaza Strip.
The terrorist group received a proposal from Steve Witkoff, US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, which would have led to a 60-dayceasefire and an exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners.
The Witkoff proposal left details of an Israel Defence Forces (IDF) withdrawal from combat areas ambiguous, with exact future boundaries to be discussed at a later stage.
‘Permanent ceasefire’
While Hamas offered to release 10 living hostages and 18 bodies in return for Israel’s release of a number of Palestinian prisoners, the group said it wanted a definitive answer on Israeli troops.
It countered with its own offer, saying: “This proposal aims to achieve a permanent ceasefire, a comprehensive withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and ensure the flow of aid to our people and our families in the Gaza Strip.”
It said its response came “after conducting a round of national consultations”.
“There [are] some notes and amendments to some points, especially on the US guarantees, the timing of hostage release, the delivery of aid and the withdrawal of Israeli forces,” a Hamas official said.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but an official said off the record that they considered Hamas’s response as an “effective rejection” of the Witkoff deal.
Steve Witkoff is the US special envoy to the Middle East. Photo / US Embassy, Jerusalem
Israeli media reported this week that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the families of hostages held in Gaza that Israel had accepted the deal presented by Witkoff. The Prime Minister’s office declined to comment at the time.
Deep differences between Hamas and Israel have stymied previous attempts to restore a ceasefire that broke down in March.
Israel has insisted that Hamas disarm completely, be dismantled as a military and governing force and return all 58 hostages still held in Gaza before it will agree to end the war.
Hamas wants to keep its weapons
Hamas has rejected the demand to give up its weapons and says Israel must pull its troops out of Gaza and commit to ending the fighting.
Israel launched its campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas attack in its south on October 7, 2023, that killed about 1200 people and took 251 Israelis as hostages into Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
The subsequent Israeli military campaign has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, Hamas-run Gaza health officials say, and has left the enclave in ruins.
The World Food Programme said that 77 trucks carrying aid, mostly flour, were stopped on Saturday (local time) by hungry Gazans who took the food before the trucks could reach their destination.
The nearly three-month Israeli blockade on Gaza has pushed the population of more than two million to the brink of famine. While pressure slightly eased in recent days as Israel allowed some aid to enter, aid organisations say far from enough food is getting in.
Israel’s military also said it had killed Mohammad Sinwar, Hamas’ Gaza chief on May 13, confirming what Netanyahu had said this week.
Sinwar was the younger brother of Yahya Sinwar, the Palestinian militant group’s dead leader and the mastermind of the October 2023 attacks on Israel.
