Hamas has responded to a US-backed proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza and a captive-for-prisoner alternate with some “feedback” on the plan, Qatari and Egyptian mediators have mentioned.
Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad group (PIJ) mentioned in a joint assertion on Tuesday that they have been keen to “strive positively to succeed in an settlement” and that their precedence is to place “an entire cease” to Israel’s present assault on Gaza.
A senior Hamas official, Osama Hamdan, informed Lebanese tv channel Al-Mayadeen that the group had “submitted some feedback on the proposal to the mediators.” He didn’t give any particulars.
“Hamas’s response reaffirmed the group’s place [that] “Any settlement should finish Zionist aggression in opposition to our individuals, take away Israeli forces, rebuild Gaza and obtain a critical prisoner alternate settlement,” a Hamas official informed Reuters information company.
The international ministries of Qatar and Egypt mentioned in a joint assertion that they have been inspecting the response and would proceed their mediation efforts alongside the US “till an settlement is reached.”
Qatar and Egypt announce that they’ve acquired a response from Hamas and Palestinian factions concerning the truce proposal #MOFAQatar pic.twitter.com/8hpBTERyJK
— Ministry of Overseas Affairs – Qatar (@MofaQatar_EN) June 11, 2024
White Home Homeland Safety spokesman John Kirby mentioned the US had additionally acquired and was evaluating the response.
“We’re engaged on Hamas’ response,” Kirby informed reporters.
Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan reported that leaders of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad mentioned the response supplied consists of amendments.
“The amendments embody an entire withdrawal from your complete Gaza Strip, together with the Rafah crossing and the Philadelphia Hall,” Khan mentioned, referring to the very important border crossing with Egypt.
“Israelis need one factor… the destruction of Hamas each politically and militarily,” he mentioned. “What this proposal suggests is that Hamas may properly survive ultimately.”
The response comes as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits the Center East in search of an settlement on the ceasefire plan and plans for post-war reconstruction and governance in Gaza.
Blinken met with Israeli officers on Tuesday in a bid to finish the eight-month Israeli air and floor offensive that has devastated Gaza, a day after the United Nations Safety Council authorized the US-backed truce proposal. Joined.
‘We are going to solely imagine it once we see it’
As a part of his eighth journey to the Center East for the reason that assault on Gaza started, Blinken additionally sought measures to forestall months of border clashes between Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah from turning right into a full-scale battle.
On Monday, Blinken met in Cairo with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt, a key mediator within the battle, earlier than touring to Israel, the place he met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Protection Minister Yoav Gallant. .
Blinken’s consultations in Israel on Tuesday included one with centrist former navy chief Benny Gantz, who resigned from Israel’s battle cupboard on Sunday over what he mentioned was Netanyahu’s failure to stipulate a plan to finish the battle.
Blinken, talking later within the day at a convention in Jordan on the humanitarian response for Gaza, introduced $404 million in support for the Palestinians and referred to as on different donors to additionally “step up their efforts.”
Egypt’s El-Sisi informed the assembly on the Useless Sea that nations ought to pressure Israel to cease what he referred to as the usage of starvation as a weapon and take away obstacles to assist distribution in Gaza.
Biden has repeatedly declared that ceasefires have been shut in current months, however there was solely a one-week truce, in November, when greater than 100 captives have been freed in alternate for about 240 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
Biden’s proposal requires a ceasefire and the gradual launch of captives in alternate for Palestinians detained in Israel, in the end resulting in a everlasting finish to the lethal assault.
America is Israel’s closest ally and largest arms provider however, together with a lot of the world, has develop into harshly crucial of the large demise toll in Gaza and the destruction and humanitarian calamity brought on by the Israeli offensive.
Within the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, Palestinians reacted cautiously to the Safety Council vote, fearing it may develop into one other ceasefire initiative that goes nowhere.
“We’ll solely imagine it once we see it,” mentioned Shaban Abdel-Raouf, 47, of a displaced household of 5 sheltering within the central metropolis of Deir el-Balah, a frequent goal of Israeli hearth.
“After they inform us to pack our belongings and put together to return to Gaza Metropolis, we are going to know it’s true,” he informed Reuters by way of a chat app.
Additionally on Tuesday, the U.N. human rights workplace mentioned each Israeli forces and Palestinian armed teams could have dedicated battle crimes in reference to a lethal raid by Israeli forces that freed 4 hostages and killed at the least 274. Palestinians over the weekend within the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.
In the meantime, Palestinians mentioned Israeli forces working within the southern metropolis of Rafah blew up a bunch of homes on Tuesday. An Israeli airstrike on a important road in Gaza Metropolis additionally killed at the least 4 individuals, medical doctors mentioned.
Israel’s assault on Gaza has killed greater than 37,100 individuals, in keeping with Gaza’s Well being Ministry. Palestinians face widespread starvation and imminent famine as a result of Israeli forces have largely minimize off the circulation of meals, drugs and different provides by closing borders.
UN companies say greater than 1,000,000 individuals in Gaza may expertise the best degree of famine by mid-July.
Israel launched the offensive after the Oct. 7 Hamas assault, wherein its fighters swept into southern Israel, killing about 1,139 individuals and kidnapping about 250, in keeping with an Al Jazeera tally primarily based on official Israeli statistics.