Netanyahu dismisses Hamas ceasefire proposal
The Israeli prime minister has dismissed a Gaza ceasefire proposal put forward by Hamas after the group said it had accepted a deal outline brokered by Egypt and Qatar.
Benjamin Netanyahu said that while the proposal was far from meeting Israel’s demands, it would send a delegation to continue negotiations, after Israeli officials dismissed it as a “ruse”.
Hamas said yesterday that its leader, Ismail Haniyeh, had informed the Qatari prime minister and head of the Egyptian intelligence that their proposal had been accepted.
Israel dismissed the proposal as a “softened” Egyptian deal that included “far-reaching conclusions” to which Israel did not agree, according to Reuters. An official said Hamas’s announcement “would appear to be a ruse intended to make Israel look like the side refusing a deal”.
Hamas official Taher Al-Nono said the proposal it accepted included a ceasefire, reconstruction of Gaza, return of the displaced and a prisHamas’s oner swap deal. Khalil al-Hayya, the group’s deputy chief in Gaza, told Al Jazeera that the deal included a three-phased agreement, each of which was 42 days long, with the second stage stipulating a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Israel has repeatedly said a withdrawal is unacceptable until Hamas is destroyed.
Israeli media reported that Israel was evaluating the Hamas response and would respond officially later.
However, officials said “this is not the same proposal” for a deal that Israel and Egypt had agreed, Israel’s Channel 12 reported. “All kinds of clauses” have been inserted, they added.
Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, an Israel Defence Forces spokesman, said Israel would consider all deals which might lead to the return of hostages. announcement comes after months of negotiations with Israel through mediators Qatar, Egypt and the US.
White House spokesman John Kirby confirmed William Burns, the CIA director, was in Middle East, with talks at a “critical” and “sensitive” stage. “I don’t know that it gets any more sensitive than right now... The last thing I want to do is say anything that is going to put that at risk.” He added: “We are just not going to get ahead of the process”.
The US State Department confirmed that US officials were reviewing Hamas’s response and discussing it with partners in the Middle East, adding: “A hostage deal would be in the best interest of the Israeli people and the Palestinian people.”
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said he was following negotiations for “a comprehensive truce” and urged more effort to reach a deal. The Palestinian Authority president in the West Bank, Mahmoud Abbas, called on the international community to pressure Israel to commit to the proposal, the Palestinian official news agency reported.
António Guterres, the secretary-general of the United Nations, has called on Israel and Hamas to “go the extra mile needed” in a bid to reach a deal.