After almost seven months of fighting, Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas, notified Qatar and Egypt, the mediators, that his Palestinian terrorist group had accepted their proposal for a Gaza truce.
The group said in a statement posted on its official website that Haniyeh had informed Egyptian Intelligence Minister Abbas Kamel and Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani over the phone that Hamas had accepted their proposal for a ceasefire agreement.
A top Hamas official clarified that this does not imply that the ceasefire has yet to take effect, pointing out that the Israeli side has not yet made its position known.
UPDATE: Israel Gives Condition For Ceasefire, Deaths Hit 11,000
The Israeli occupation now has the power to either support or thwart the ceasefire accord, a senior official told AFP under condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to discuss the negotiations in public.
The decision by Hamas followed Israel’s appeal on Monday for Palestinians to evacuate eastern Rafah in advance of a ground invasion of the southern Gaza city, a move that has alarmed people all over the world.
Following Hamas’s declaration, crowds in Rafah, whose residents had expressed dread and perplexity over the evacuation order, applauded and fired into the air, according to an AFP correspondent.
The correspondent also mentioned that they were yelling “Allahu Akbar” (God is Greatest) and shooting in the air in celebration of the news.
Israel, Hamas Agree Truce In Ongoing War, To Release Hostages
After months of sporadic negotiation, mediators have been unable to bring about a fresh ceasefire similar to the one that last November witnessed the release of 105 hostages, including Israelis in return for Palestinians detained by Israel.
Previous attempts at talks had faltered partly due to Netanyahu’s threats to destroy Hamas’s surviving fighters in Rafah and the organization’s demand for an indefinite ceasefire.
Following Hamas’s historic October 7 attack on Israel, which claimed the lives of over 1,170 people, the majority of whom were civilians, an AFP tally of Israeli government numbers shows that the bloodiest conflict in Gaza’s history got underway.
Of the hostages taken by terrorists on October 7, Israel estimates that 128 are still in Gaza, including 35 that the IDF claims are dead.
Israel Resumes Gaza Bombing After Weeklong Ceasefire Expires
According to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel has conducted a retaliatory offensive that has killed at least 34,735 people in Gaza, mostly women and children.
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