Hamas delivers conditional response to US envoy Steve Witkoff’s truce plan, seeking phased hostage release and US pressure on Israel to comply.Hamas delivers conditional response to US envoy Steve Witkoff’s truce plan, seeking phased hostage release and US pressure on Israel to comply.
The Hamas terror organization has delivered its response to the mediators regarding the ceasefire proposal put forth by US envoy Steve Witkoff, Asharq Al-Awsat reported, citing a senior Hamas official.
According to the report, the response — drafted following consultations with other Palestinian Arab factions — presents a “positive approach” but includes several notes. In principle, it presents a willingness to accept the US proposal so long as the United States demonstrates a genuine intent to pressure Israel to adhere to the agreement’s clauses.
One of the main reservations involves the timing of the release of 10 Israeli hostages. While the proposal stipulates that five hostages would be released on the first day and five more on the seventh day of the deal’s implementation, Hamas seeks to release them in several phases over the full 60-day period of the agreement.
Other Hamas sources emphasized that the group’s reply is neither a rejection nor an acceptance, but a list of comments intended to improve the proposal to meet Hamas’ minimum demands.
They added that the latest Witkoff proposal represents a step back compared to the previous agreement and lacks clarity regarding the extension of the ceasefire after the 60-day pause and the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza.The Hamas terror organization has delivered its response to the mediators regarding the ceasefire proposal put forth by US envoy Steve Witkoff, Asharq Al-Awsat reported, citing a senior Hamas official.
According to the report, the response — drafted following consultations with other Palestinian Arab factions — presents a “positive approach” but includes several notes. In principle, it presents a willingness to accept the US proposal so long as the United States demonstrates a genuine intent to pressure Israel to adhere to the agreement’s clauses.
One of the main reservations involves the timing of the release of 10 Israeli hostages. While the proposal stipulates that five hostages would be released on the first day and five more on the seventh day of the deal’s implementation, Hamas seeks to release them in several phases over the full 60-day period of the agreement.
Other Hamas sources emphasized that the group’s reply is neither a rejection nor an acceptance, but a list of comments intended to improve the proposal to meet Hamas’ minimum demands.
They added that the latest Witkoff proposal represents a step back compared to the previous agreement and lacks clarity regarding the extension of the ceasefire after the 60-day pause and the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
An Israeli official responded to Hamas’s message, saying the terror group “effectively rejected the latest Witkoff plan and introduced a new proposal with its own conditions.”
The revised Witkoff plan reportedly includes the release of 10 live hostages and 18 bodies in two phases within a single week — half on the first day and half on the seventh. The plan also outlines a 60-day ceasefire during which negotiations on ending the war would continue, alongside the release of 125 terrorists serving life sentences, 1,111 Gazan terrorists, and 180 bodies of deceased terrorists.
