With the Israel-Hezbollah fight intensifying, the Gaza ceasefire seems to have hit a roadblock. Though the ceasefire talks have progressed, both Israel and Hamas have not found a common ground regarding the Gaza ceasefire.
A senior Hamas official has said that the group rejects any proposal for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza and insisted on a lasting ceasefire. The Gaza war was triggered after the October 7 attacks against Israel.
“The idea of a temporary pause in the war, only to resume aggression later, is something we have already expressed our position on. Hamas supports a permanent end to the war, not a temporary one,” Taher al-Nunu, a senior leader of Hamas told AFP.
A recent meeting between Mossad, CIA and Qatar PM in Doha discussed the proposal of a “short-term” truce of “less than a month.”
The proposal, reportedly, involves exchanging hostages for Palestinians jailed in Israeli prisons and increasing aid to Gaza. According to US officials, the proposal could pave the way for a permanent ceasefire.
Nunu says that the group has not received any proposal so far.
However, he reiterated the demands the terror group has been insisting on for months — “a permanent ceasefire, withdrawal [of Israeli forces] from Gaza, the return of displaced people, sufficient humanitarian aid to Gaza and a serious prisoner exchange deal.”
It is believed that 97 of the 251 hostages abducted by the Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza.
Meanwhile, there were also reports that Hamas has rejected a ceasefire proposal that would have brought the release of a small number of Israeli captives and a 30-day cessation of hostilities, but no withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip.
In November, a prisoner swap deal led to the release of about 100 Israeli captives in exchange for about 240 Palestinian detainees.
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