“No one has any idea” how many hostages are still alive. This was announced on CNN by a senior Hamas official, who explained that any agreement to release them must include guarantees of a permanent ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. In an interview with the American broadcaster, the spokesman and member of the political bureau of the Palestinian Islamist group, Osama Hamdan, said that the latest proposal on the table – an Israeli plan announced publicly for the first time by US President Joe Biden late last month – does not meet the group’s demands for an end to the war.
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Hamdan stressed that Hamas needs “a clear position from Israel on accepting the ceasefire, on complete withdrawal from Gaza and on letting the Palestinians determine their own future, reconstruction, ending the siege … And we are ready to talk about a fair agreement regarding the prisoner exchange.” Hamdan said the duration of the ceasefire is a key issue for Hamas, which fears that Israel has no intention of completing the second phase of the agreement. The end of hostilities must be permanent, he insisted, and Israel must withdraw completely from Gaza.
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«The Israelis only want a ceasefire for six weeks and then they want to go back to fighting. The Americans, so far, have failed to convince the Israelis to accept a permanent ceasefire,” he explained further, noting that the United States must convince Israel to accept a permanent ceasefire as part of the agreement.
