Hamas: If Israel stops its war and aggression against people in Gaza,” Hamas stated in a statement that they are prepared to come to a complete agreement.
In short
- Hamas is ready to seek ‘full accord’ with Israel if it stops the Gaza war.
- Israeli tanks had reached Rafah on Tuesday.
- On Sunday, strikes in Rafah killed more than 35 Palestinians.
On Thursday, Hamas declared that if Israel ceased its war against the Palestinian people, they “are ready to reach a complete agreement,” which includes an agreement to exchange hostages.
They said in a statement obtained by Reuters news agency that they are prepared to come to a full agreement provided Israel quits its war and its aggression against the people of Gaza.
The most recent statement from Hamas was released as Israel continued its onslaught on Rafah, a city in southern Gaza, in defiance of an order by the top UN court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), to stop the attacks.
Hamas and the Palestinian factions refuse to engage in ceasefire negotiations while the aggression, siege, starvation, and genocide against our people continue, the Hamas statement read.
Today, we informed the mediators of our clear position: if the occupation halts its war and aggression against our people in Gaza, we are ready to reach a comprehensive agreement that includes a complete exchange deal, it added.
Israel has rejected past offers from Hamas as insufficient and remains determined to eliminate a group committed to its destruction. It states that its Rafah offensive is focused on rescuing hostages and rooting out Hamas fighters.
Israel announced on Tuesday that its battle against Hamas in Gaza would last all year after Washington stated that The Rafah attack no longer represented a first-rate floor operation that could spark an alternate in US policy.
Despite an injunction from the International Court of Justice to cease its operations on the city, where many Palestinians had sought shelter from shelling elsewhere, Israeli tanks entered the heart of Rafah in Gaza on Tuesday for the first time.
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Israeli strikes on Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Sunday resulted in around 35 Palestinian deaths and numerous injuries, as reported by Palestinian health and civil emergency service sources. Since Israel launched a counterattack against Hamas’s October 7 assault last year, hundreds of Palestinians have fled the northern portion of Gaza and are now living in Rafah.