GAZA (dpa-AFX) – The Islamist Hamas has rejected a temporary ceasefire in the Gaza war and called for a permanent ceasefire. “We reiterate that there will be no negotiations without a comprehensive cessation of aggression,” the terrorist organization said on Monday evening. The Hamas leadership is working “with all its might for a complete and not just a temporary end to the massacres of our population,” the statement continued.
Hamas was responding to an Arab media report that Egypt had drawn up a draft to end the Gaza war in several stages. As the Saudi TV channel Aschark News reported on Sunday, the first phase would be about enforcing a ceasefire lasting at least two weeks. During this time, 40 hostages held in the Gaza Strip were to be exchanged for 120 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.
In a second phase, there should be a Palestinian dialogue under the auspices of Egypt to “end the division” and form a technocratic government, it said. This passage refers to the rivalry between the two largest Palestinian groups, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah and the Islamist Hamas. Only in a third phase should there be a complete ceasefire and a comprehensive agreement on the exchange of hostages and prisoners, which should lead to a complete withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip.
According to a report in the Times of Israel newspaper, Israel’s war cabinet planned to address the Egyptian proposal on Monday. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a visit to troops in the Gaza Strip that Israel would “deepen the fight in the coming days.” He spoke of a long fight against Hamas, the end of which is not imminent./ro/DP/he