The political leader of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), Ismail Haniye, assured this Friday that the Palestinian militia is committed to any peace initiative that includes the group’s main demands to end the war in the Gaza Strip.
“We will address any document or initiative that ensures the demands and foundations of the resistance position, because our priority is to stop the criminal war against our people,” Haniye said during his speech at an event in Lebanon.
Furthermore, Haniye has taken the opportunity to emphasize that the Hamas attacks served to unite the Palestinian population, according to information collected by the newspaper ‘Filastin’, related to the Islamist militia.
At the beginning of October, Hamas launched an attack against Israel that claimed the lives of almost 1,200 people and kidnapped another almost 240. The Israeli Army then launched a bloody counteroffensive in the Gaza Strip that has already left more than 37,300 victims.
Since then, the parties have only reached a brief ceasefire agreement at the end of the year, which also contemplated the release of around thirty hostages in Hamas custody, in exchange for three times as many Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.
Efforts for an agreement have moved forward, led especially by the United States and Qatar. In fact, US President Joe Biden presented a peace proposal at the end of May that, however, was rejected by Hamas.
The US plan contemplates a progressive plan to guarantee stability in the region structured in three stages, ranging from the release of hostages to a political reorganization in Gaza, through the withdrawal of Israeli troops.
However, that proposal was rejected by Hamas, which presented a series of new demands that for the United States meant breaking the deck, since they were issues that, according to Washington, had already been previously addressed.
Hamas demands the withdrawal of Israeli troops and a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip before proceeding to release the hostages kidnapped in early October. Israel, for its part, has rejected these demands.