A senior Hamas official said on Saturday that the group had accepted a new Gaza ceasefire proposal presented by mediators and urged Israel to support it, although he warned that a ceasefire would not be possible without Hamas laying down its arms. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office also confirmed that it had received the proposal from the mediators and submitted a counter-proposal in response.
“Two days ago we received a proposal from the mediating brothers of Egypt and Qatar. We took it positively and approved it. We hope that the occupation (Israel) will not stop it,” Khalil al-Haya said in a televised address on the occasion of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitra. “The weapons of resistance will not be laid down.”
Netanyahu’s office confirmed that it had received the proposal from the mediators. “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a series of consultations yesterday in accordance with the proposals received from the mediators,” his office said in a statement. “A few hours ago, Israel sent a counter-proposal to the mediators in full coordination with the United States,” the office said, without providing details.
A day earlier, senior Hamas official Bassem Naim said that talks between the Palestinian Islamist movement and mediators on a ceasefire agreement were gaining momentum, as Israel continued its intensive operation in Gaza. Palestinian sources close to Hamas said talks between the militant group and mediators from Egypt and Qatar began on Thursday evening to revive the ceasefire and hostage release agreement.
A fragile ceasefire that brought relative peace to the Gaza Strip ended on March 18 before Israel resumed its bombing campaign across the region. The talks in Doha began a day after Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu threatened to seize parts of Gaza if Hamas did not release the hostages, and Hamas warned that the prisoners would be returned “in coffins” if Israel did not stop bombing the Palestinian territories.
