The News
Hamas on Thursday rejected a new proposal brokered by Qatar, Egypt, and the US for a 30-day ceasefire in Gaza.
The proposal would have seen the release of a small number of Israeli hostages, but no withdrawal of forces from the Strip, Middle East Eye reported. Hamas has insisted instead on a permanent end to the conflict that has been raging for 13 months, killing more than 40,000 people in Gaza.
“The idea of a temporary pause in the war, only to resume aggression later, is something we have already expressed our position on,” Taher al-Nunu, a senior leader of the group, told AFP. “Hamas supports a permanent end to the war, not a temporary one.”
Hopes that the conflict would abate after Israel killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar earlier this month quickly faded as violence persisted, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly “having “no interest in reaching the ‘day after’ the war.”
International tension grew further this week after the Israeli Parliament voted to ban UNRWA — the United Nations’ agency for Palestinian refugees — from the country and launched another airstrike that killed more than 90 people, sparking criticism from Washington.
“Amid the escalation, there have been few visible or viable off-ramps to prevent the world’s most volatile region from getting worse,” an analyst wrote for the Wilson Center think tank.