Hamas offer proposal to release all further hostages
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem has announced a new proposal to release all remaining Israeli hostages at once, according to the Jerusalem Post on February 18th.
Qassem affirmed Hamas’ desire to uphold their end of the ceasefire deal.
However, he stated this would only be possible should Israel commit to a permanent ceasefire and a complete withdrawal from Gaza.
The proposal comes a month after the signing of the initial ceasefire that saw the the first round of hostage releases take place.
The ceasefire has been fragile and its is likely that Israel would have U.S support to reenter Gaza.
For Hamas leaders, an expedition in the release of hostages may be an attempt to prevent Israel reentering Gaza.
Hamas regained control of Gaza after the signing of the ceasefire on January 19th.
Despite Qassem’s proposal, the Israeli security cabinet are yet to make any such commitment.
Their meeting earlier in the week ended with a ‘no-vote decision’ on how to proceed with the second stage of the hostage-ceasefire deal.
Israeli Primer Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed that a permanent ceasefire will only be possible should Hamas de-arm and leave Gaza.
For Hamas, this proposal holds no credibility as the future of Gaza should not be decided by an external actor.
Qassem said in response to the comments: ‘Israel’s demand to remove Hamas from Gaza is laughable, a mere psychological tactic. The resistance will not leave, and disarmament is out of the question.’
There is great potential for a resumption of the conflict in Gaza.
The Trump regime will back further Israeli aggression and support their demands against Hamas and the people of Gaza.
On the other hand, Hamas claim that they will not adhere to Israel’s ‘laughable’ demands.
Despite their proposal to release all Israeli hostages, it may not be enough to prevent further Israeli aggression and see catastrophic violence return to Gaza so shortly after it subsided only one month ago.
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