Hamas outlines Gaza truce proposal, blames 'Israel' for rejecting it

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Al Mayadeen
2 May 2025 22:58
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After outlining its Gaza ceasefire proposal, Hamas urges global action to end the war and siege on the Palestinian enclave.

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Senior Hamas official Abdel Rahman Shadid during a press conference on Friday, May 2, 2025 (Screengrab)

Hamas presented on April 17 a “clear and responsible vision,” based on a comprehensive and balanced agreement, but the Israeli government rejected it, Abdel Rahman Shadid, a senior official in the movement said.

The proposed agreement includes a permanent cessation of aggression against Gaza, the full withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces from the Strip, the lifting of the blockade, the entry of humanitarian aid and relief, and reconstruction efforts, Shadid explained during a press conference on Friday.

The proposal also includes a comprehensive prisoner exchange deal that would lead to the release of all Israeli captives in a single batch, in exchange for an agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

Additionally, it calls for a long-term ceasefire lasting five years, guaranteed by regional and international parties, and the formation of an independent committee to manage the Gaza Strip.

According to Shadid, the proposed administrative committee would be composed of independent technocrats granted full authority and responsibilities, in accordance with the Egyptian proposal for a Community Support Committee, in a way that ensures the smooth running of affairs, free from direct political interference, and provides security and services during this critical phase.

Israeli government insisted on fragmenting files

While Hamas leadership spent the past weeks putting forward its vision through official meetings with officials and mediators in several capitals, the Israeli government responded with rejection, Shadid said.

He noted that the Israeli government insisted on fragmenting the files, refused to commit to ending the war, and continued to adhere to policies of killing, starvation, and destruction, even at the expense of the lives of its own captives.

The Palestinian official said this Israeli stance underscores that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “places no value on the lives of his soldiers, and instead exploits their suffering to advance his political agenda, despite being fully aware that continuing the war only deepens the losses.”

In response, Hamas reaffirmed that it is “approaching any ideas or proposals with full responsibility and positivity, as long as they ultimately lead to a permanent ceasefire, the complete [Israeli] withdrawal from the Strip, and the conclusion of a real and fair prisoner exchange,” Shadid pointed out.

Resistance front remains solid

On the situation in Gaza, Shadid said the Resistance, led by Hamas' al-Qassam Brigades, continues to fight a "heroic" and ongoing battle against the Israeli war machine and has successfully exhausted the Israeli military and inflicted repeated losses.

He added that the Resistance has “turned the battlefield into a prolonged war of attrition in which the occupation flounders without any achievements, while the internal front of the Resistance remains solid and maintains the initiative.”

'Israel' using aid as blackmail tool

Regarding the humanitarian situation in Gaza, the Hamas official accused the Israeli occupation of using starvation as a “systematic weapon of war aimed at breaking the will of the Palestinian people and subjugating them, in a blatant violation of the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law.”

Shadid also pointed out that "Israel" is using humanitarian aid as a tool of political blackmail in “a multifaceted crime aimed at annihilating life in Gaza by all possible means.”

Despite international appeals, “the occupation continues to block the entry of thousands of trucks carrying food, medicine, and urgent humanitarian aid, which have been halted for weeks at the Rafah crossing,” Shadid emphasized, affirming that what is taking place in Gaza is “a genocide and systematic starvation campaign.”

Hamas stressed the need to “immediately refer the perpetrators of these crimes to international courts as war criminals,” holding the US administration and its allies responsible for directly enabling the massacres, genocide, and starvation.

Resistance operations escalate in West Bank despite repression

Shadid also addressed the situation in the occupied West Bank and al-Quds, where Israeli forces and settler militias are escalating systematic acts of killing, arrest, and violence against Palestinians, with the support of the Israeli government.

He stated that “Resistance operations in the West Bank are escalating despite repression and persecution, affirming the Palestinian people's commitment to the path of confrontation” with the occupation.

In occupied al-Quds, Shadid warned that Al-Aqsa Mosque is under “ongoing Judaization attempts through mass settler incursions under heavy protection from occupation forces and efforts to impose temporal and spatial division” to change the status quo.

Arab, Islamic governments must activate summit decisions

Hamas also called on Arab and Islamic governments to activate their summit resolutions, impose the opening of border crossings for relief and medical aid, end all forms of normalization, sever political and diplomatic ties with "Israel", and expel its ambassadors.

It also urged the use of economic and trade relations as real leverage against countries arming the Israeli occupation and providing it with political and international cover for its genocide.

Hamas called on the United Nations, international organizations, and the International Court of Justice to act immediately to compel the occupation to open border crossings without restrictions and allow the entry of food, water, medicine, and aid trucks stuck at the Rafah crossing.

The Palestinian group also urged the escalation of popular, media, and human rights activism across all countries of the world and turning it into sustained pressure to end the starvation policy, break the siege, and impose sanctions on the occupation, rather than settling for token condemnations or timid appeals.

Appreciation for Spanish government’s stance

Hamas also praised the Spanish government’s decision to suspend arms exports to "Israel", calling on other governments to follow suit and halt military and political support to the occupying entity.

Targeting of Global Conscience vessel 'Israeli piracy'

The Hamas official also addressed "Israel’s" attack on the Global Conscience vessel, describing it as “Israeli piracy and state terrorism that demands immediate international condemnation and accountability from all relevant parties.”

Shadid commended the “courage of the ship’s crew and all activists working to break the siege on Gaza,” calling for continued efforts to expose "Israel’s" fascism and to organize successive humanitarian aid convoys despite all the threats and obstacles imposed by the occupation.