Hamas says the latest Israeli ceasefire proposal calling for the disarm of Palestinian groups will cross the “million red line.”
The negotiations for a new ceasefire and the end of the war in Gaza appear to be at a dead end after Israel issued a new request to disarm Hamas with its latest proposal that only provides a temporary halt of attacks on Palestinian territory.
Israel announced its latest proposals to Egyptian and Qatar mediators on Monday, offering a 45-day temporary ceasefire in exchange for Hamas to release 11 Israeli prisoners of war still held in Gaza.
Hamas said in a statement that he is considering the latest Israeli proposal and will respond “as soon as possible.”
Hamas senior official Sami Abu Zuri told Al Jazeera before the official statement that Hamas would not accept the demand for disarming, saying “As long as there is a profession, resistance will continue.”
“The demand to disarm Hamas is unacceptable to hearing. It’s not just a red line, it’s a million red line,” Abu Zuri said. “Everyone needs to understand that this is a dream – fantasy. It cannot be achieved.”
Hamas claimed that Israel had pledged to end the war and remove the troops from Gaza. In return, he offered to hand over all the remaining prisoners “in one batch.”
Al Jazeera correspondent Noor Ode said the demand that Hamas’ disarming is likely to be non-star after Israel outlined its plans to forcibly expel Palestinians from Gaza.
“While Palestinians are listening to Israel talking about ethnic cleansing of Palestinian enclaves, they form departments of the Ministry of Defense to achieve that goal, but it’s hard to see Palestinian groups talking about laying their arms in the absence of the political horizon,” Ode said.
“For now, Hamas has armed arms, the problem with disarming is on the red line, and there is no way to talk about it without talking about the end of the war.”
The latest talk held in Cairo on Monday did not end with an obvious move to end the war permanently since Israel violated a ceasefire in Gaza on March 18, after reaching Hamas on January 18th.
Since resuming the war, Israel has killed more than 1,500 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities. Gaza’s health ministry has confirmed that at least 50,983 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli war with Gaza and 116,274 were injured.
Hundreds of thousands have been evacuated once again since Israel resumed its campaign, imposing a complete blockade on Gaza, and pushing its territory into siege and starvation.
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