Hamas desires a comprehensive agreement. This deal would end the war in Gaza and swap all Israeli hostages for Palestinians jailed in Israel, according to a senior official. The group is rejecting Israel’s offer of an interim truce.
Khalil Al-Hayya, Hamas’s Gaza chief, who leads its negotiating team, spoke in a televised speech. He stated the group would no longer agree to interim deals. This position is unlikely to be accepted by Israel and could further delay an end to the devastating attacks that have restarted.
Hayya said Hamas was ready to immediately engage in “comprehensive package negotiations.” This would release all remaining hostages in its custody in return for an end to the Gaza war, the release of Palestinians jailed by Israel, and the reconstruction of Gaza.
Hayya said, “Netanyahu and his government use partial agreements as a cover for their political agenda, which is based on continuing the war of extermination and starvation, even if the price is sacrificing all his prisoners (hostages).”
He added, “We will not be part of passing this policy.”
Egyptian mediators have been working to revive the January ceasefire agreement. It halted fighting in Gaza before it broke down last month, but there has been little sign of progress with both Israel and Hamas blaming each other.
National Security Council spokesperson James Hewitt said, “Hamas’s comments demonstrate they are not interested in peace but perpetual violence. The terms made by the Trump Administration have not changed: release the hostages or face hell.”
The latest round of talks in Cairo ended with no apparent breakthrough, according to Palestinian and Egyptian sources. They were trying to restore the ceasefire and free Israeli hostages on Monday.
Israel proposed a 45-day truce in Gaza. This would allow hostage releases and potentially begin indirect talks to end the war. Hamas has already rejected one of Israel’s conditions; that it lay down its arms. In his speech, Hayya accused Israel of offering a counterproposal with “impossible conditions.”
Hamas released 38 hostages under a ceasefire that began on January 19. In March, Israel’s military resumed its ground and aerial offensive on Gaza. It abandoned the ceasefire after Hamas rejected proposals to extend the truce without ending the war.
Israeli officials say that the offensive will continue. They state that it will continue until the remaining 59 hostages are freed and Gaza is demilitarized. Hamas insists it will free hostages only as part of a deal to end the war and has rejected demands to lay down its arms.
The armed wing of Hamas said the group had lost contact with militants holding Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander after the Israeli army attacked their hideout on Tuesday. Alexander is a New Jersey native and a 21-year-old soldier in the Israeli army.
The armed wing later released a video. It warned hostages’ families that their “children will return in black coffins with their bodies torn apart from shrapnel from your army.”
Israeli military strikes killed at least 32 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, according to local health authorities. The dead included women and children.
One of those strikes killed six people at a UN-run school in Jabalia. Several others were wounded. The Israeli military said the strike targeted a Hamas command center.
Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel triggered the war. 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, more than 51,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive, according to local health authorities.
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