Israeli media quoted officials as saying that Israel did not take Hamas’ announcement of accepting the truce proposal seriously, as Hamas agreed to a modified version that Israel has not yet decided upon.
The Israeli Broadcasting Authority quoted an official source as saying: “This is a unilateral response from Hamas to the Egyptian proposal, and when we receive it, we will study it and respond to it.”
The Israeli Army Radio also said that the proposal has yet to be approved by Israel.
Israeli Channel 12 quoted two Israeli officials as saying: “We will study Hamas’ response. The current proposal differs from the formula approved by Israel.”
The two officials added that this is a long term proposal that is unacceptable to Israel.
A government official has even claimed that Hamas’ announcement of accepting the ceasefire proposal is a hoax aimed at portraying Israel as a rebellious state.
Hamas announced its approval of the Egyptian-Qatari proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip on Monday, according to a statement from the movement.
The movement added that the head of the Hamas political bureau Ismail Haniyeh held a phone call with the head of the Egyptian Intelligence Service, Abbas Kamel, and the Qatari Prime Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, and informed them of Hamas’ approval of their proposal regarding the ceasefire agreement.
The movement added, “With positive spirit, a Hamas delegation will head to Cairo tomorrow (Tuesday) to complete the discussions.”
“Hamas and the Palestinian resistance factions are determined to mature the agreement, in a way that achieves the demands of our people to stop the aggression completely, withdraw the occupation forces, return the displaced, provide relief to our people, begin reconstruction, and complete a serious (prisoner) swap deal,” the statement explained.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
