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25-07-2025
GAZA STRIP/ JERUSALEM/ BEIRUT: A senior Hamas source told media on Thursday that there was still a chance of reaching a Gaza ceasefire agreement but it would take a few days because of what he called Israeli stalling.
The source said Hamas’ response to the latest ceasefire proposal included requesting a clause that would prevent Israel from resuming the war if an agreement was not reached within the 60-day truce period.
Hamas confirmed on Thursday that it has responded to an Israeli proposal for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza, after more than two weeks of indirect talks in Qatar have failed to yield a truce.
“Hamas has just submitted its response and that of the Palestinian factions to the ceasefire proposal to the mediators,” the Palestinian militant group said in a statement on Telegram.
The response included proposed amendments to clauses on the entry of aid, maps of areas from which the Israeli army should withdraw and guarantees on securing a permanent end to the war, according to a Palestinian source familiar with ongoing talks in Doha.
Negotiators from both sides have been holding indirect talks in Doha with mediators in an attempt to reach an agreement on a truce deal that would see the release of Israeli hostages.
Of the 251 hostages taken during Hamas’s 2023 attack, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead but the talks have dragged on for more than two weeks without a breakthrough, with each side blaming the other for refusing to budge on their key demands.
For Israel, dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities is non-negotiable, while Hamas demands firm guarantees on a lasting truce, a full withdrawal of Israeli troops and the free flow of aid into Gaza.
Israeli government spokesman David Mencer on Wednesday accused Hamas of obstructing talks.
“Israel has agreed to the Qatari proposal and the updated (US special envoy Steve) Witkoff proposal, it is Hamas that is refusing,” Mencer told reporters, adding that Israel’s negotiating team was still in Doha and talks were ongoing.
The United States said Witkoff will head to Europe this week for talks on a possible ceasefire and an aid corridor. More than 100 aid organizations warned on Wednesday that “mass starvation” was spreading in Gaza.
“There is no convincing reason for delaying the response or demanding non-essential amendments,” he wrote on Wednesday, adding that Hamas can raise outstanding issues during the subsequent negotiations that will take place once the 60-day truce is in place.
“Let us move forward with a deal with American guarantees that allows everyone to negotiate to reach a permanent ceasefire,” Bahbah said.
Meanwhile, an official familiar with the negotiations said that Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s confidant and the head of Israel’s hostage negotiating team was slated to meet with Witkoff in Italy on Thursday. The two would be joined by a senior Qatari official involved in the mediation efforts, the official said.
US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce announced on Tuesday that Witkoff was heading “to the Gaza area,” sparking instant optimism that a deal was near, even though Hamas at that point hadn’t even submitted its response to the latest truce proposal. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
