Latest: Hamas response to Gaza cease-fire plan with ‘amendments,’ US reviewing them
In the Gaza Strip’s violence, Hamas has reacted to the U.S.-sponsored call for a truce in the region because it wants some changes to the proposal. Boko Haram’s response was not that of a full acknowledgement, which the United States has been demanding. However, it was more or less an acknowledgement that kept the negotiation going over an assertion that would mark an end to eight months of war.
The response was made up of changes affirming the ceasefire, pulling out, reconstructing, and (prisoner) exchange, said Hamas spokesman Jihad Taha but did not elaborate.
Although the general tenets of the deal have found support among the Hamas officials, uncertainty concerning the compliance by Israel with the broad provisions of the agreement, including the clauses providing for an end to the war and complete withdrawal of the Israeli forces from Gaza in exchange for the transfer of all hostages detained by the militants.
It also said on Tuesday that a UN human rights office accused both sides – Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups of war crimes regarding a fatal raid by Israeli troops that rescued four hostages and killed at least 274 Palestinians over the weekend.
Operation Cast Lead in Gaza cost the lives of more than 37,100 people in the text, Gaza’s Health Ministry, which includes civilians and combatants in its death toll. In the end, Palestinians are hungry because the war has limited supplies of food, medical ones, and all the necessities. UN agencies have estimated that more than one million people in Gaza now face a level of food shortage equivalent to ‘famine’ by mid-July.
The leadership of Hamas firmly dismissed the allegations as an effort to ignore the proposal, with al-Zahar dubbed the ‘Minister of Resistance. The reaction of Hamas and other Palestinian factions was logical, profound, and affirmative to the truce proposal reacting to which Izzat al-Rishq, a member of the Hamas political bureau, said on Tuesday night that the response is by the demands put forth by our people, the resistance, for lifting the blockade to pave the way for an agreement.
This is true, as pointed out by Kesich, who says that incitement to Hamas’s response in Israeli media can be an indication of attempts to evade the obligations of the agreement.
While Netanyahu and his coalition partners have been sharply critical of the plan, other political and former military leaders, such as former war cabinet minister Benny Gantz and opposition leader Yair Lapid, have called on Netanyahu to support the US deal.
Fatah has also been putting pressure on Hamas to go for the American-blessed plan, but the group last week expressed fear that Israel may not pursue the second stage of the plan, which is the end of the conflict.
“Unless there is a clear position on the part of Israel on preparing for the permanent ceasefire and total withdrawal from Gaza Strip which is what could open the door wide for the completion of the agreement … we cannot come to an agreement,” OSMA Hamdan, spokesman of Hamas and member of its political bureau said last week.
