Hamas presents cease-fire proposal detailing exchange of hostages, prisoners
Hamas has proposed a cease-fire deal to release its innocent hostages for around 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, including 100 serving life sentences — an offer Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu blasted as “ridiculous.”
The terrorist organization wants to get 700 to 1,000 prisoners in exchange for the remaining women, children and elderly hostages it is still holding after the Oct. 7 incursion and slaughter, according to the proposal sent to the US and other mediators and viewed by Reuters.
It proposed a permanent cease-fire date to be picked after the exchange, as well as a deadline for when Israel would need to withdraw troops.
The bloodthirsty terror group also suggested that a second stage would include releasing all detainees on both sides.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu slammed the “ridiculous” proposal Thursday, saying it was based on “unrealistic demands,” according to Reuters and the Financial Times.
Families of hostages, however, are encouraging the politicians to take it seriously.
“Now is the time for a deal,” the Hostages Families Forum said Friday.
“We need to bring them home, now.”
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi — whose country is one of the meditators — said the Mediterranean country is seeking to reach a cease-fire deal, to ramp up aid deliveries in Gaza, and to allow Palestinians in the Strip to move north away from the fighting.
“We are talking about reaching a cease-fire in Gaza, meaning a truce, providing the biggest quantity of aid,” he told Egypt’s police academy.
Israel is gearing up to invade Rafah, which shares a border with Egypt, and Sisi has warned about the dangers of the Jewish nation doing so.
The war-torn country insisted in February that Hamas strongholds were in Rafah and it began to develop a plan to evacuate the millions living in the border town before invasion as it believes four Hamas battalions are deployed in the area.
The announcement of their plan caused international concern, as millions of displaced Palestinians have sought shelter in the city.
This week, the Israel Defense Forces said it would help establish “humanitarian enclaves” to help move an estimated 1.3 million people from Rafah, according to the Financial Times.
Also in February, Israel rejected a permanent cease-fire deal, as the country has sworn it would not stop until Hamas has been eliminated.
The February Hamas proposal also included Israel withdrawing from the Strip, stepping up aid deliveries, and allowing Palestinians to migrate back North.
In addition, Israel had presented Hamas with a proposal as well after talks in Paris. It included a 40-day pause, a hostage-prisoner exchange at a ratio of 10:1 – a similar ratio to the new cease-fire proposal.
Hamas, however, is insistent the cease-fire must end the war, as it claims 31,000 Palestinians have died since the war started on Oct. 7. And more than 575,000 are facing famine in the Strip, according to the UN.
The war was triggered when Hamas invaded Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostage.
Since the start, other terrorist groups have backed Hamas, including Lebanese Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthis.
With Post wires
