“Hamas received the Zionist occupation’s official response to our position, which was handed over to Egyptian and Qatari mediators on April 13,” said the number two of the group’s political arm in Gaza.
“The movement will study this proposal and present its response as soon as its study is completed,” said Khalil al-Hayya in a statement.
Hamas said on April 13 that it had submitted a response to Egyptian and Qatari mediators on a proposed truce with Israel in the Gaza Strip, insisting on a permanent ceasefire.
Without explicitly rejecting the proposal for a truce, Hamas reaffirmed its demand for “a permanent ceasefire”, the withdrawal of the Israeli army “from the entire Gaza Strip”, the return of displaced people to their places of residence and “the intensification of entry of humanitarian aid”.
Israel opposes a permanent ceasefire, insisting instead on a several-week pause in fighting before carrying out a long-promised ground operation in Rafah, and refuses a military withdrawal from Gaza.
Hamas’ counterproposal, the details of which were not revealed, comes one day after an Egyptian delegation arrived in Israel to try to relaunch negotiations towards a truce in Gaza, associated with the release of hostages.
Meetings between the Egyptian delegation and Israeli authorities in Tel Aviv achieved “remarkable progress” towards a truce, security sources told the EFE news agency and Egyptian state television Al-Qahera News.
The same sources added that Israel would be willing to suspend military operations in Gaza for around six weeks and allow the return of people displaced to the north of the territory, while also giving initial approval for a hostage exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. .
Since the attack in Israel on October 7, which triggered the current conflict in the Gaza Strip, Hamas has held 133 people hostage, of whom around half are believed to be dead.
