A senior Egyptian who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity says terror group Hamas has rejected Israel’s proposal for a two-month ceasefire in which Hamas would release Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian security prisoners.
The official says Hamas leaders have also refused to leave Gaza and are demanding that Israel fully withdraw from the territory and allow Palestinians to return to their homes.
Under Israel’s proposal, Yahya Sinwar and other top Hamas leaders in Gaza would be allowed to relocate to other countries.
The official says Egypt and Qatar, which have brokered past agreements between Israel and Hamas, are developing a multi-stage proposal to try to bridge the gaps. The proposal would include ending the war, releasing the hostages and putting forth a vision for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Sure thousands of civilians under our rule died as our human shields from a war we provoked, our critical infrastructure was destroyed because we used it for war, thousands of our soldiers were killed, and we didn’t achieve our stated objectives, but future generations are going to be really mad about it so I consider that a total victory.
-Hamas (not idiots)
Yes, Hamas is immoral and does idiotic things from our perspective but it’s a mistake to believe that makes them idiots. They didn’t just stumble into attacking Israel, and they weren’t naive about how Israel would respond.