Hamas says it's ready for ceasefire but wants complete end to war in Gaza
Hamas signals openness to ceasefire but insists on ending Gaza war; Trump pushes 60-day deal with partial Israeli withdrawal and hostages release.
PTI
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US President Trump is ramping up pressure on Israel and Hamas to reach a ceasefire, secure a hostage deal, and end the war.(PTI)
Cairo, 2 July
Hamas suggested
Wednesday that it was open to a ceasefire agreement with Israel, but stopped
short of accepting a US-backed proposal announced by US President Donald Trump
hours earlier, insisting on its longstanding position that any deal bring an
end to the war in Gaza.
Trump said Tuesday
that Israel had agreed on terms for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and urged Hamas
to accept the deal before conditions worsen. The US leader has been increasing
pressure on the Israeli government and Hamas to broker a ceasefire, and hostage
agreement and bring about an end to the war.
Trump said the
60-day period would be used to work toward ending the war, something Israel
says it won't accept until Hamas is defeated. He said that a deal might come
together as soon as next week.
But Hamas'
response, which emphasised its demand that the war end, raised questions about
whether the latest offer could materialise into an actual pause in fighting.
Hamas official
Taher al-Nunu said that the militant group was “ready and serious regarding
reaching an agreement.”
He said Hamas was
“ready to accept any initiative that clearly leads to the complete end to the
war.”
A Hamas delegation
is expected to meet with Egyptian and Qatari mediators in Cairo on Wednesday to
discuss the proposal, according to an Egyptian official. The official spoke on
condition of anonymity, because he wasn't authorized to discuss the talks with
the media.
Israel and Hamas
disagree on how war should end
Throughout the
nearly 21-month-long war, ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas have
repeatedly faltered over whether the war should end as part of any deal.
Hamas has said
that it's willing to free the remaining 50 hostages, less then half of whom are
said to be alive, in exchange for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and
an end to the war.
Israel says it
will only agree to end the war if Hamas surrenders, disarms and exiles itself,
something the group refuses to do.
An Israeli
official said that the latest proposal calls for a 60-day deal that would
include a partial Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a surge in humanitarian aid
to the territory. The mediators and the US would provide assurances about talks
on an end to the war, but Israel isn't committing to that as part of the latest
proposal, the official said.
The official
wasn't authorised to discuss the details of the proposed deal with the media,
so spoke on condition of anonymity.
It wasn't clear
how many hostages would be freed as part of the agreement, but previous
proposals have called for the release of about 10.
Israel has yet to publicly comment on Trump's announcement. On Monday, Trump is set to host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for talks at the White House, days after Ron Dermer, a senior Netanyahu adviser, held discussions with top US officials about Gaza, Iran and other matters.
On Tuesday, Trump
wrote on social media that Israel had "agreed to the necessary conditions
to finalize the 60 Day CEASEFIRE, during which time we will work with all
parties to end the War.”
“I hope, for the
good of the Middle East, that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get
better — IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE,” he said.
Trump's warning
may find a sceptical audience with Hamas. Even before the expiration of the
war's longest ceasefire in March, Trump has repeatedly issued dramatic
ultimatums to pressure Hamas to agree to longer pauses in the fighting that
would see the release of more hostages and a return of more aid to Gaza's
civilian populace.
Still, Trump views
the current moment as a potential turning point in the brutal conflict that has
left more than 56,000 dead in the Palestinian territory. The Gaza Health
Ministry doesn't differentiate between civilians and combatants in its death
count, but says that more than half of the dead are women and children.
The war began on 7 October, 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking roughly 250 hostages.
The war has left
the coastal Palestinian territory in ruins, with much of the urban landscape
flattened in the fighting. More than 90 per cent of Gaza's 2.3 million
population has been displaced, often multiple times. And the war has sparked a
humanitarian crisis in Gaza, pushing hundreds of thousands of people toward
hunger.
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