Netanyahu: Hamas Demands For Truce Unacceptable
- 6.07.2025, 9:59
The statement came amid the dispatch of an Israeli delegation to Qatar.
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has rejected as "unacceptable" demands by the radical Islamist movement Hamas to change the draft ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli prime minister announced on Saturday evening, July 5, that an Israeli delegation would be sent to Qatar, where new talks on a truce in the Gaza Strip and the release of Israeli hostages held captive by Hamas will be held on July 6, Demeutsche Welle wrote.
Netanyahu is scheduled to make another visit to Washington on July 7, the AFP news agency reported, specifying that the US government-backed truce proposal is likely to be one of the issues he will discuss with President Donald Trump.
Hamas is ready to negotiate a ceasefire
Hamas said on July 4 that it was ready to negotiate a truce proposal in the Gaza Strip. We are "ready immediately and seriously" to participate in a round of talks on a mechanism to implement the terms of the truce proposal put forward by the mediators, Hamas said in a statement. Allied terror group Islamic Jihad also said it supported the truce talks, but demanded guarantees that Israel would not resume hostilities after the release of the remaining hostages in the Gaza Strip.
Trump commented on the Hamas statement saying, "This is good," adding that an agreement could be reached as early as next week. The White House chief said he was very optimistic "although the situation is changing every day."
A proposal by international mediators for a new 60-day truce is now on the negotiating table, the AFP news agency reported, citing sources in the Palestinian delegation. Under the proposal, Hamas must release half of the 22 Israeli hostages still alive and still held in the Gaza Strip. In return, Israel must release several Palestinian prisoners.
In Israel, rallies demanding the release of hostages continued
In the meantime, thousands of people took to the streets of Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities on the evening of July 5, demanding the release of all hostages held by Hamas. "It's time to make a deal that will save everyone, the living and the fallen," the Times of Israel quoted a relative of two twin brothers in captivity as saying.
Of the 251 hostages that Hamas and allied groups seized and took to the Gaza Strip in October 2023, 49 more are currently being held. 27 of them have been confirmed dead by the Israeli army.