Hamas said on Monday that it had accepted a Gaza ceasefire proposal from Egypt and Qatar.
The Islamist faction said in a statement that its chief, Ismail Haniyeh, had informed Qatar’s prime minister and Egypt’s intelligence chief of its acceptance of their proposal.
“The mujahid brother Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the Hamas movement’s political bureau, had a phone call with the Qatari Prime Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, and with the Egyptian Minister of Intelligence, Abbas Kamel, and informed them of the Hamas movement’s approval of their proposal regarding the ceasefire agreement.”
An Israeli official said on Monday no ceasefire had been agreed in Gaza, after Hamas said it had accepted a proposal from Egyptian and Qatari mediators.
The Israeli official said the proposal that Hamas had accepted was a “softened” version of an Egyptian proposal, which included “far-reaching” conclusions that Israel could not accept.
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“This would appear to be a ruse intended to make Israel look like the side refusing a deal,” said the Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
There has been no successful agreement on a ceasefire in Gaza since a week-long pause in the fighting in November.
The Hamas announcement of an agreement came hours after Israel ordered the evacuation of parts of Rafah, the city on Gaza’s southern edge that has served as the last sanctuary for around half of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents.
