Hamas says it approves of Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal, but Israel says plan has “significant gaps”
Hamas said it approved of a cease-fire proposal presented by Egypt and Qatar, but Israel’s response was that what Hamas agreed to is “far from meeting Israel’s core demands.”
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh informed Egyptian and Qatari leaders of Hamas’ “approval of their proposal regarding a cease-fire agreement” during a phone call on Monday, the group said in a statement published on the Palestinian site Shehab News Monday.
But Hamas’ statement initially appeared to cause some confusion, since it wasn’t immediately clear which proposal Hamas was referencing. By Monday evening, though, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that the war cabinet had met and determined that the Hamas proposal “is far from meeting Israel’s core demands.”
negotiations continue.
An official briefed on the talks told CBS News Monday that Burns and the Israeli negotiating team had received Hamas’ response to the proposal from Qatar’s prime minister an hour before Hamas announced its backing of the deal.
Mr. Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday for about 30 minutes and “updated the prime minister on efforts to secure a hostage deal,” the White House said. But Kirby said that call ended before reports of Hamas’ response emerged.
Hamas was labeled a terrorist group by the U.S. and Israel long before Hamas launched a surprise attack on Oct. 7, killing more than 1,100 and taking more than 250 hostages.
Israel’s military warned about 100,000 Palestinians in the eastern part of the Gaza city of Rafah to evacuate Monday ahead of a ground offensive long threatened by Israeli leaders. The message was delivered with fliers, phone calls, messages and media broadcasts in Arabic after a weekend that saw hope for a new cease-fire in the seven-month Israel-Hamas war dashed yet again.
Tucker Reals, Michal Ben-Gal and Camilla Schick contributed to this report.
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Source: cbsnews.com