Hamas ready to ‘treat positively’ any ceasefire proposal to end Gaza war, official says – Firstpost

A senior official from the Islamist terrorist group Hamas, Osama Hamdan, said on Saturday that there had been no progress in ceasefire negotiations with Israel over the Gaza war.

The Palestinian group remains ready to “treat positively” any proposal for a ceasefire that ends the war, Hamdan said at a news conference in Beirut.

Efforts by Arab mediators, backed by the United States, have so far failed to reach a ceasefire, with both sides blaming each other for the impasse. Hamas says any deal must end the war and lead to Israel’s full withdrawal from Gaza, while Israel says it will accept only temporary pauses in fighting until Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, is eradicated.

Hamdan also accused the United States of pressuring Hamas to accept Israel’s terms.

“Once again, Hamas is ready to treat positively any proposal that would guarantee a permanent ceasefire, a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and a serious exchange agreement,” Hamdan said, referring to a possible exchange of hostages held in Gaza for Palestinians in Israeli prisons.

When Hamas-led militants stormed southern Israel on October 7, they killed about 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

The Israeli retaliatory offensive has so far killed nearly 38,000 people, according to Gaza’s health ministry, and left the heavily built-up coastal enclave in ruins.

In Gaza, Palestinian health officials said Israeli military strikes across the enclave had so far killed at least 35 people and injured others on Saturday.

Israeli forces continued to operate in the Shejaia neighborhood, east of Gaza City. Residents said tanks advanced deeper into several neighborhoods, including the area around the local market, and came under heavy fire from the air and on the ground.

Hamas’ military wing and allied Islamic Jihad reported heavy fighting, saying fighters fired anti-tank rockets and mortar shells at forces operating there.

More than eight months after Israel’s air and ground war began in Gaza, militants continue to launch attacks against Israeli forces, operating in areas that the Israeli military claims to have taken control of for months.

The Israeli military said Saturday it had killed dozens of militants in close-quarters combat and airstrikes in Shejaia over the past week, after surrounding what it described as a civilian area transformed by Hamas into a militant compound.

“In the area, troops located observation posts, weapons, enemy drones and a long-range rocket launcher near the schools,” the army said in a statement.

Hamas has denied Israeli claims that it operates in civilian areas such as schools and hospitals.

Israeli leaders said last week that the intense phase of the war was coming to an end and that the next stage of the offensive would consist mainly of smaller-scale operations aimed at preventing Hamas from regrouping.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces operating in several districts of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip killed several Palestinians and forced families living in the far west of the city, along coastal areas, to move north, according to medical officials and Palestinian residents.

Israel said its military operations in Rafah aimed to eradicate the last armed battalions of Hamas.