Hamas will only consider an agreement with Israel if it includes a cessation of hostilities in the Gaza Strip, a senior Hamas official said on April 28. Since October, 7, 2023, nearly 35,000 Palestinians were killed by Israel in Gaza.
According to Xinhua news agency, Sami Abu Zuhri emphasised that Hamas will not accept any deal that does not involve ending the genocide in Gaza. He mentioned that Israel’s response, received through intermediaries, is currently being evaluated, and a decision has not yet been made.
A Hamas delegation, led by Khalil Al-Hayya, the deputy chief of Hamas in Gaza, is set to visit Cairo on Monday to deliver Hamas’s response on a ceasefire in Gaza and discuss a potential prisoner exchange with Israel, as per an unnamed source from the movement, as reported by the international agency.
Israeli officials also described this as a crucial moment in negotiations for a new prisoner swap deal with Hamas.
Qatar, Egypt, and the United States are involved in efforts to broker a prisoner exchange and secure a second ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, following the previous ceasefire that ended in December. Israel estimates that around 134 Israelis remain held hostage in Gaza, while Hamas claims that 70 of them were killed in Israeli airstrikes.
Palestinian organisations concerned with prisoners report deteriorating conditions for over 9,000 Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails since the conflict escalated last October.
