GAZA CITY: Hamas said on Monday (Apr 15) that Israel has offered a 45-day ceasefire if it releases half of the remaining hostages held in Gaza, which the United Nations said is now in the grip of its worst humanitarian crisis since the start of the war.
A Hamas official told AFP that Israel had also demanded that the Palestinian militants disarm to secure an end to the Gaza war but that this crossed a “red line”.
Egyptian mediators passed on an Israeli proposal that “includes the release of half the hostages in the first week of the agreement, an extension of the truce for at least 45 days, and the entry of aid,” the official said.
Militants took 251 hostages during the Oct 7, 2023 attacks that set off the war. Some 58 are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
“The proposal includes the disarmament of Hamas and all Palestinian armed factions in the Gaza Strip as a condition for a permanent end to the war,” the official added.
Hamas leaders were reviewing the ceasefire proposal but the official said: “Hamas and the resistance factions’ position is that the resistance’s weapons are a red line and non-negotiable.”
The official said Hamas negotiators were going to Qatar, where the group has an office and the main mediation talks with Israel have been held. Israel did not immediately comment on the Hamas statement.
“Hamas informed the mediators that it is willing to agree to any proposal that includes a permanent ceasefire, a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and the entry of aid,” the official said.
