Hamas official: Ready to ‘positively treat’ any ceasefire proposal to end Gaza war – Firstpost

June 29, 2024

Local authorities in Gaza said the May 26 airstrike on Rafah killed 45 people, most of them sheltering in tents. The attack sparked widespread outrage around the world, including criticism from some of Israel’s closest allies. Image file AP

A senior official of the terrorist Islamist group Hamas, Osama Hamdan, said on Saturday that there was no progress in ceasefire talks with Israel over the Gaza war.

The Palestinian group remains ready to “respond positively” to any ceasefire proposal that ends the war, Hamdan said at a press conference in Beirut.

Efforts by Arab mediators backed by the US have so far failed to bring about a ceasefire. Both sides blame each other for the impasse. Hamas says an agreement must end the war and result in a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Israel, on the other hand, says it will only accept temporary ceasefires until Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, is wiped out.

Hamdan also accused the US of putting pressure on Hamas to accept Israel’s conditions.

“Once again, Hamas is ready to treat positively any proposal that ensures a permanent ceasefire, a comprehensive withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and a serious exchange agreement,” Hamdan said, referring to a possible exchange of hostages held in the Gaza Strip for Palestinians in Israeli prisons.

When Hamas-led militants entered southern Israel on October 7, they killed around 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli sources.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, nearly 38,000 people have been killed so far in the Israeli retaliatory offensive and the densely built-up coastal enclave lies in ruins.

In the Gaza Strip, Palestinian health officials said at least 35 people had been killed and others injured in Israeli military strikes in the enclave on Saturday.

Israeli forces remain active in the Shejaia neighborhood in eastern Gaza. Residents reported that tanks have entered several neighborhoods, including the area around the local market, and that there is heavy shelling from the air and ground.

Hamas’ armed wing and its allied Islamic Jihad reported heavy fighting and said fighters fired anti-tank missiles and mortar shells at forces operating there.

More than eight months after the start of Israel’s air and ground war in the Gaza Strip, militants continue to carry out attacks on Israeli forces and operate in areas that the Israeli army says it took control of months ago.

The Israeli military said on Saturday it killed dozens of militants in close combat and air strikes in Shejaia last week after encircling a civilian area converted into a militant base by Hamas.

“In the area, troops discovered observation posts, weapons, enemy drones and a long-range rocket launcher near the schools,” the military said in a statement.

Hamas has rejected Israeli claims that it is active in civilian areas such as schools and hospitals.

Israeli politicians said last week that the intense phase of the war was coming to an end and that the next phase of the offensive would consist mainly of smaller operations aimed at preventing Hamas from forming again.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces operating in several districts of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip killed several Palestinians, according to Palestinian medics and residents, and forced families living on the far western edge of the city along the coastal areas to move north.

Israel has stated that its military operations in Rafah are aimed at wiping out the last Hamas armed battalions.