Hamas says it is ready for a comprehensive Gaza truce and an independent administration, but Israel swiftly rejected the proposal, insisting on Hamas’s disarmament and continued security control.
Hamas said on Thursday it supports the formation of an independent national administration to govern Gaza and is ready to agree to a comprehensive truce involving the release of all Israeli captives.
“The Hamas Movement is still awaiting the response of the Zionist enemy on the proposal presented by mediators to the movement on August 18, which Hamas and the Palestinian factions have accepted,” the group said in a statement shared on its official Telegram channel.
“In this context, Hamas reiterates its readiness to go for a comprehensive deal whereby all enemy prisoners held by the Resistance would be released, in exchange for an agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners held by the occupation, and as part of an agreement that ends the war on Gaza, ensures the full withdrawal of all occupation forces from the entire Gaza Strip, reopens the crossings to enter all Gaza’s essential needs, and begins the reconstruction process,” it said.
The group also reaffirmed its approval to form “an independent, technocratic national administration to manage all affairs of the Gaza Strip and assume its responsibilities immediately in all fields.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office swiftly rejected the statement, saying an end to the war would require more than the release of captives.
“Unfortunately, this is more spin by Hamas that has nothing new,” Netanyahu’s office said, adding that Israel’s conditions include Hamas’s disarmament, the demilitarisation of Gaza, continued Israeli security control, and a new administration in the enclave.
The exchange follows earlier proposals in August, when Hamas accepted a 60-day truce mediated by Qatar and Egypt that included the release of half the remaining Israeli captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and increased humanitarian aid.
Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Majed Al-Ansari, told reporters on Tuesday that mediators have yet to receive Israel’s response to the latest proposal. He reiterated Qatar’s calls for Israel to end the war and allow the entry of humanitarian aid, urging the international community to adopt “a unified stance” to halt Israeli crimes.
Qatar and Egypt, working in coordination with the United States, have led mediation efforts since the war on Gaza began on October 7, 2023. Their efforts helped secure a one-week ceasefire in November 2023 and a staged truce in January 2024.
That fragile progress collapsed on March 18, when Israel unilaterally ended the agreement by refusing to withdraw its forces from Gaza and blocking aid deliveries.
The ongoing Israeli military campaign has killed at least 62,966 people in Gaza, most of them women and children. Thousands more remain missing under the rubble.
