Hamas officials studying cease-fire proposal

BEIRUT — Hamas officials said Friday that the group is studying a proposed cease-fire deal that would include prolonged pauses in fighting in Gaza and swaps of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, but the militants appeared to rule out some key components.

Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ top political leader, and Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official in Beirut, said the group remains committed to its initial demands for a permanent cease-fire. Hamdan also said the group seeks the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners being held for acts related to the conflict with Israel, including those serving life sentences.

The insistence on large-scale prisoner releases and an end to the fighting in Gaza put the group at odds with the multistage proposal that officials from Egypt, Israel, Qatar and the United States put forth this week. That proposal does not include a permanent cease-fire.

Haniyeh said in a statement Friday that negotiations must “completely end” the Israeli offensive in Gaza and bring the withdrawal of Israeli forces — demands that Israel has rejected.

Referring to the proposal for successive pauses in fighting, Hamdan told Lebanon’s LBC television: “There is no way that this will be acceptable by the resistance.”

Israeli leaders have said they will keep fighting until Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, is crushed, even while agreeing to long pauses that are accompanied by the release of hostages.

Hamas and other militants captured about 250 hostages during their deadly Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that triggered the war. They continue to hold dozens of captives, after more than 100 were released during a one-week truce in November, in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.

Since Israel’s offensive began, more than 27,000 Palestinians have been killed and 66,000 wounded, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The conflict has also leveled vast swaths of the tiny coastal enclave, displaced 85% of its population and pushed a quarter of residents to starvation.

In his remarks, Hamdan also said Hamas wants to free Palestinian prisoners of all factions — not just those affiliated with the militant group. In addition to Barghouti, he named Ahmed Saadat, the head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a small PLO faction.

The prisoner release is a “national cause, not only for Hamas,” he said.