Hamas rejects Egyptian proposal for Gaza ceasefire, refuses to discuss disarmament

An unnamed senior official told Al Jazeera Arabic that Hamas had received a new ceasefire proposal from Egypt – but that the Egyptian side emphasised that no deal could be reached with Israel unless the Palestinian group laid down its arms.
“Our negotiating delegation was surprised that the proposal Egypt conveyed included an explicit text regarding the disarmament of the resistance,” the official said. “Egypt informed us that there will be no agreement to stop the war without negotiating the disarmament of the resistance.”
According to the official, Hamas stuck to its position that any agreement should be centred on an end to Israel’s war on Gaza and its withdrawal from the Palestinian enclave. The official added that Hamas’s weapons were “not subject to discussion”.
Israel has repeatedly insisted that Hamas must be defeated – including being disarmed – for the war to end.
The senior Hamas official adds that the proposal by Egypt includes a ceasefire for 45 days in exchange for the entry of food and materials for shelter into Gaza.
That is desperately needed in Gaza after Israel’s decision to block the entry of all humanitarian aid into the territory in early March and warnings of starvation.
But Hamas has insisted that the war in Gaza – in which Israel has now killed more than 50,000 Palestinians – must end.

Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh reports from the Jordanian capital, Amman.

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