Hamas Official Confirms US Ceasefire Proposal Means ‘Continuation of Killing and Famine’ in Gaza
Gaza (Quds News Network)- A US ceasefire proposal with Israel is “still under discussion” by Hamas, but in its current form will only result in “the continuation of killing and famine” in the Gaza Strip, an official from the Palestinian group has said.
The US plan for Gaza proposes a 60-day ceasefire and the release of 28 Israeli captives alive and dead in the first week, in exchange for the release of 1,236 Palestinian prisoners and the bodies of 180 Palestinians, according to Reuters.
The document, which says the plan is guaranteed by the US President Donald Trump and mediators Egypt and Qatar, includes sending humanitarian aid to Gaza as soon as Hamas signs off on the ceasefire agreement.
The aid will be delivered by the United Nations, the Red Crescent and other agreed channels.
The Israeli government has not publicly confirmed that it approved the latest proposal.
On Thursday, however, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed that Israel had “signed off” on the ceasefire proposal, and the Trump administration’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, had submitted it to Hamas for consideration.
In a statement on Thursday, Hamas said it has received the new Witkoff proposal from mediators and is currently “reviewing it with full responsibility, guided by the interests of our people, the urgency of alleviating their suffering, and the goal of achieving a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.”
Hamas political bureau member Basem Naim told Reuters that the deal “does not meet any of our people’s demands, foremost among them, halting the war”.
“Nonetheless, the movement’s leadership is studying the response to the proposal with full national responsibility,” Naim added.
Hamas will respond on Friday or Saturday, a source from the Palestinian group told Reuters.
Naim also told the AFP news agency that the proposal meant “the continuation of killing and famine … and does not meet any of our people’s demands, foremost among them halting the war”.
“Nonetheless, the movement’s leadership is studying the response to the proposal with full national responsibility,” he said
The details of the new proposal have not been made public, but senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters that, crucially, it did not contain commitments from Israel to end its war on Gaza, withdraw Israeli troops from the enclave, or allow aid to freely enter the war-torn territory.
Israel violated the January ceasefire and resumed its war on Gaza on March 18, killing close to 4,000 people.
On March 2, Israel announced the closure of Gaza’s main crossings, cutting off food, medical and humanitarian supplies, leading to an unprecedented deterioration of humanitarian conditions, according to reports by human rights organisations who have accused it of using starvation as a weapon of war against Palestinains.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report warned that almost a quarter of the civilian population would face catastrophic levels of food insecurity (IPC Phase Five) in the coming months.
