Hamas said on Wednesday that it is considering a new short-range truce offer from foreign mediators but reaffirmed its call for an end to the entire Israeli military operation against Gaza. The organization confirmed it is holding talks in an effort to “bridge gaps” to allow resuming the negotiations and obtaining a truce ensuring the Israeli withdrawal from the enclave.
The announcement comes after US President Donald Trump asserted that Israel has accepted a 60-day ceasefire proposal and called on Hamas to endorse the deal to avoid further escalation. Trump announced the two-month timeout as an opportunity to seek a lasting end to the conflict although Israeli officials have continued to say they will stop operations only when Hamas is disarmed. Trump is scheduled to sit down with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu next week.
Hamas’s demand for a permanent cessation of hostilities, though, raises questions about whether the new initiative will lead to an effective truce. Netanyahu reacted to the announcement by reiterating that “there will be no Hamas” in Gaza upon its conclusion.
Israeli authorities, Axios reports, have threatened that military action will escalate if ceasefire negotiations do not move forward. “We’ll destroy Gaza City and the central camps like we did with Rafah,” said a top Israeli official in a reported remark. “Everything will be reduced to dust.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar reiterated that any opportunity to rescue hostages has to be seized, as right-wing cabinet ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich withheld backing for the US-sponsored proposal.
