OAN Staff Abril Elfi
11:48 AM – Sunday, March 2, 2025
Israel has approved a United States proposal to extend the ceasefire in Gaza through the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the Jewish Passover holiday.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has released a statement saying that Israel has accepted a proposal from U.S. Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff.
“Israel adopts the plan of the US president’s envoy Steve Witkoff for a temporary truce for the periods of Ramadan” due to end in late March “and Pesach”, the eight-day Jewish Passover to be observed in mid-April, the statement read.
The first phase of the cease-fire, which went into effect on January 19th, expired on Saturday. A second phase of the agreement was meant to guarantee the release of the dozens of hostages still in Gaza, in what is characterized as an extremely “fragile” agreement.
According to Netanyahu’s office, Witkoff proposed this interim extension as a bridging measure after determining that Israel and Hamas were at a diplomatic dead end and could not agree on the terms of a lasting truce.
A statement from the prime minister’s office originally published in Hebrew said:
“After a security discussion chaired by Prime Minister Netanyahu and with the participation of the Minister of Defense, senior defense officials, and the negotiating team, it was decided: Israel adopts the outline of the US President’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, for a temporary ceasefire for the Ramadan and Passover periods.”
“On the first day of the outline, half of the hostages, both alive and dead, will be released, and at the end – if an agreement is reached on a permanent ceasefire – the remaining hostages, both alive and dead, will be released.”
“Witkoff proposed the outline for extending the ceasefire after he was impressed that at this stage there was no possibility of bridging the positions of the parties to end the war, and that additional time was needed for talks on a permanent ceasefire.”
“While Hamas has repeatedly violated the agreement, Israel is not in violation. According to the agreement, Israel can return to fighting after the 42nd day if it feels that the negotiations are ineffective. This clause was supported by a side letter from the previous US administration and has also received the support of the Trump administration.”
“While Israel agreed to the Witkoff outline with the aim of returning our abductees, Hamas has so far stuck to its refusal to accept this outline.”
“If Hamas changes its position, Israel will immediately enter into negotiations on all the details of the Witkoff plan.”
Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said the group rejected Israel’s “formulation” of extending the first phase of the ceasefire in Gaza, but did not explicitly mention Witkoff’s plan.
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