By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

Muhammad al-Hindi, Deputy Secretary-General of the Islamic Jihad Movement, stated that the Resistance demands that the proposed exchange agreement include a final ceasefire in Gaza.

Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majid Al-Ansari said on Friday that the Palestinian Resistance Movement Hamas is still considering the American proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, Al-Jazeera reported. 

“The mediators have not yet received a response from Hamas regarding the recent ceasefire and prisoner exchange proposal with Israel,” Al-Ansari said, indicating that the movement “is still studying the proposal.”

Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the Hamas Political Bureau, asserted that the movement and other Resistance factions are prepared to engage seriously and positively with any agreement based on a comprehensive cessation of aggression, full withdrawal, and a prisoner exchange.

Haniyeh added that the movement is negotiating from a position that reflects the will of the Palestinian people and their determined resistance.

Meanwhile, Muhammad al-Hindi, Deputy Secretary-General of the Islamic Jihad Movement, stated that the Resistance demands that the proposed exchange agreement include a final ceasefire in Gaza, rather than leaving the matter to the interpretation of US President Joe Biden or the mediators.

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Al-Hindi confirmed in an interview with Al-Jazeera that attempts to circumvent the issue through a Security Council resolution would be futile, referring to the draft resolution the United States submitted for a three-stage ceasefire plan.

Regarding the Israeli stance, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation (KAN) reported that Israel has communicated to the mediators its expectation of receiving a response from Hamas on Biden’s ceasefire proposal by Saturday.

Additionally, KAN mentioned that Israel’s UN ambassador, Gilad Erdan, informed his American counterpart, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, of Israel’s opposition to the proposed US draft resolution at the Security Council.

This development coincides with increasing internal disputes in Israel, with the KAN reporting that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may dissolve the war council if Minister Benny Gantz follows through on his threat to resign.

Biden’s Proposal

US President Joe Biden said on May 31 that Israel proposed a deal including an initial six-week truce with partial Israeli military withdrawal and the release of some captives while both sides negotiated a “permanent end to hostilities.”

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However, the following day, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu stated that a permanent ceasefire in Gaza is impossible until the Palestinian Resistance movement Hamas is destroyed, challenging the truce proposal mentioned by Biden.

Israel’s Rejection

On May 6, Hamas politburo chief, Ismail Haniyeh informed the negotiators that Hamas had announced its acceptance of a ceasefire proposal for the besieged Gaza Strip.

Hamas later said that the necessary measures “to ensure the implementation of the agreement were also reviewed after the movement made its decision out of concern for our people and their supreme interests.”

“It is now on the occupation to seize the moment and agree to the proposal presented,” the statement added.

However, Israel rejected the deal and decided instead to go ahead with the invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

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Gaza Genocide

Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7. 

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 36,731 Palestinians have been killed, and 83,530 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.

Moreover, at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip. 

Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.

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The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children. 

The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.

 Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.

(PC, AJA)