Hamas, "Considering Gaza Ceasefire Proposal"... Disagreements Over Key Terms Including Duration

"Demand for 'Permanent Ceasefire and Large-Scale Release of Palestinian Prisoners'... Differences Persist
Israeli Forces Announce Advance on 'Pressure Cooker of Despair' Rafah Crowded with Refugees
'17,000 Gaza Children Left Alone'"

Palestinian armed faction Hamas, which is at war with Israel, has announced that it is reviewing a ceasefire mediation plan centered on a temporary truce and the exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners. However, disagreements over the duration of the ceasefire and the scale of Palestinian prisoner releases have raised doubts that the ceasefire will be easily achieved.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

According to the Associated Press on the 2nd (local time), Osama Hamdan, Hamas spokesperson, stated that they maintain their existing position that a permanent ceasefire must be achieved in the Gaza Strip for the release of hostages.

Hamdan also demanded the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners, including certain individuals sentenced to life imprisonment. He set the release of two figures?Marwan Barghouti of the Fatah party governing the West Bank and Ahmed Saadat, representative of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)?as conditions for the release.

This is the first time Hamas has specifically named prisoners for release demands since the outbreak of the war. Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh also reaffirmed in a statement that negotiations must "completely end" Israel’s military operations in the Gaza Strip and be accompanied by the withdrawal of Israeli forces.

This stance by Hamas conflicts with the ceasefire proposal previously conveyed to Hamas by Israel, the United States, Qatar, and Egypt. The ceasefire plan delivered on the 28th-29th of last month reportedly included a proposal for a temporary ceasefire of about a month and phased hostage releases instead of a permanent ceasefire.

However, in an interview with Lebanese media on the same day, Hamdan said that the phased temporary ceasefire plan included in the proposal "cannot be accepted by the resistance forces (Hamas)." Israel also firmly opposes demands for a ceasefire, stating that it will not halt military operations in the Gaza Strip until Hamas is completely eliminated.

With the positions of both sides remaining far apart, fierce Israeli offensives continue in southern Gaza, causing increasing civilian casualties. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which announced the repulsion of Hamas in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis the previous day, continued attacks on the Palestinian Red Crescent headquarters at Amal Hospital in Khan Yunis on this day. The Red Crescent reported that four people, including Red Crescent staff, were killed in the attack.

The Israeli military also stated that it will continue military operations in the border city of Rafah, where tens of thousands of refugees have gathered, raising concerns about large-scale civilian casualties. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs expressed concern that Rafah is becoming a "pressure cooker of despair" on the verge of explosion, amid the influx of tens of thousands of refugees evacuated from Khan Yunis into the already saturated Rafah and the Israeli military’s announcement of further attacks.

As the war approaches four months, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimates that about 17,000 children in the Gaza Strip have been left alone without parents or family. According to the British daily The Guardian, UNICEF stated that nearly all children in the Gaza Strip are facing a mental health crisis, showing "extremely high levels of persistent anxiety, symptoms such as loss of appetite, and are terrified every time they hear bombing sounds, unable to sleep."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.