Many Israeli news sources indicate that the vast majority of Hamas's leaders are safely out of the country. They also estimate that over 70% of Hamas's forces or unharmed and continue to hide in an expansive underground tunnel network.
Ergo, whatever Israel is doing apparently isn't working. They are doing a great job of terrorizing and destroying innocent civilians, however.
Hamas rejects Egyptian proposal to end war with Israel, refuses free elections in Gaza
By Ronny Reyes, NY Post
Published Dec. 25, 2023
Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror groups operating in Gaza have rejected an Egyptian-led truce proposal with Israel that would see the militants relinquish power in return for an end to the war, sources say.
The terrorists, who conducted the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel, have refused to take part in one of the biggest conditions laid out by negotiators in Cairo on Sunday: an end to Hamas’ reign in Gaza by forming a Palestinian parliament and holding free elections, according to two Egyptian security sources.
The terrorist organizations instead reiterated that the only thing they’re ready to discuss is a prisoner swap that would see more than 100 Israeli hostages released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners being held in Israel’s jails.
But a Hamas official who was in Cairo during the negotiations added that even a new prisoner swap would only take place once Israel has withdrawn from war-torn Gaza.
“Hamas seeks to end the Israeli aggression against our people, the massacres and genocide, and we discussed with our Egyptian brothers the ways to do that,” the official told Reuters.
“We also said that the aid for our people must keep going and must increase, and it must reach all the population in the north and the south,” the Hamas official added. “After the aggression is stopped and the aid increased, we are ready to discuss prisoner swaps.”
A senior Hamas official, Osama Hamdan, later told Al Jazeera, “No one accepts negotiating under fire – not Hamas, not anyone else.”
In terms of who would govern the Palestinian region after the war, Hamdan added, “Who will lead the Palestinians is an internal Palestinian issue.
“The people must elect their own leadership. No one has a right to dictate, not the Americans, Israelis or any one else,” he said.
Israel’s war cabinet convened shortly after the proposed peace deal was rejected, the Times of Israel said.
While previous peace talks have included exchanging one hostage for every three Palestinian women and minors freed, leaders for Islamic Jihad are now demanding a different approach even on that.
Palestinian women sob over relatives who were killed during an Israeli airstrike on Monday.
The terror group has claimed that the only fair exchange would be all the hostages for all the prisoners, according to the Egyptian sources.
There were about 5,250 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails before the war, but that number has nearly doubled after thousands more were arrested in conflicts along the West Bank since Oct. 7, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Association.
There are believed to be more than 100 Israeli hostages still in captivity in Gaza.
But while both sides are reportedly miles apart from a truce, Izzat al-Risheq, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, has come out to insist that the peace talks are not off the table, claiming that the Gazan groups have not rejected the Egyptian plan.
“The leadership of the movement seeks with all force to stop the aggression and massacres against our people completely and not temporarily,” he told Al Aljazeera. “Our people want to stop the aggression and do not wait for temporary truces and a partial truce for a short period, after which the aggression and terrorism will continue.”
The Egyptian plan focuses on three phases, the first of which involves a two-week truce agreement that would see 40 hostages freed in exchange for 120 prisoners.
The second phase involves the establishment of a new government in Gaza, with the final step calling for permanent peace and the freedom of all hostages.
Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was in Cairo speaking with Egyptian negotiators.
Despite the apparent hesitation from the terror groups to accept the proposal, Israel also appears ready to reject it, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterating that the war will only end when the terror group is destroyed.
“Anyone who talks about stopping — no. We’re not stopping,” Netanyahu said during a visit to Israeli troops in northern Gaza on Monday. “This is going to go until the end. Until we finish them. No less than that.”
In video uploaded by the prime minister’s office, Netanyahu was seen arriving in Gaza in a helicopter and being driven to where the troops were stationed to give them a pep talk. He also received a briefing on Hamas’ operations “in the heart of civilian areas” in Gaza.
The developments came as Israel revealed it had found evidence of two hostages on the grounds of the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza, the Times of Israel said.
Hamas has said it would not agree to any cease-fire deal until Israel withdraws from Gaza, where more than 20,000 have been reported dead.
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