Hamas could have accepted the ceasefire proposal that would have halted the war but did not, choosing instead to propose “numerous changes,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
This deal, which President Joe Biden unveiled publicly on May 31, was “virtually identical” to a proposal put forth by Hamas on May 6, Blinken said during a Wednesday press conference along with Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.
“So the hard reality is we could have a ceasefire,” Blinken said during an interview with Al Jazeera. “We could have maybe had a ceasefire 12 days ago, but we don’t in this moment because Hamas has not said yes. We have, I think, some changes that Hamas is looking for that are workable, that we can try to close the gap on. There are others that are not workable, so we have to see in the days ahead whether we can actually close the gaps. I think that the gaps are bridgeable, but just because they are doesn’t mean they will be. Ultimately, Hamas has to decide. Everyone else has decided. Hamas has not.”
U.S. officials declined to share additional details about Hamas’s proposed changes. They plan to meet with their Qatari and Egyptian counterparts who have acted as mediators, communicating with Hamas to discuss ways to salvage a deal.
The proposal, if it gets enacted, would immediately stop Israel’s war efforts in Gaza, which would, in turn, allow for desperately needed humanitarian aid to be surged into the strip and distributed without fear of being caught in the crossfire of the war. Israeli forces would also withdraw from heavily populated areas of Gaza, Hamas would release the Israeli women and children who have been held hostage since Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel would release thousands of Palestinians it has detained.
That first phase would last about six weeks and during that time, both sides would continue to negotiate the details of phase two, though it would include the release of the remaining living Israeli hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
U.S. officials stressed that both Hamas’s delayed response to the deal and its decision not to accept it outright would inevitably lead to additional Palestinian suffering and casualties. Through eight months of battle, much of Gaza’s infrastructure has been destroyed, all of Gaza’s population is facing the threat of famine, and tens of thousands of civilians and combatants have been killed or wounded.
By not accepting the deal, roughly 120 hostages will remain in captivity as well. Four of them were rescued last weekend, though the Israeli forces who carried out the operation took fire from nearby militants, and a firefight ensued. More than 200 Palestinians were killed in the battle amid the rescue mission. The United Nations warned that Israeli forces may have committed war crimes during the mission, as Hamas may have for where those hostages were held.
Yahya Sinwar, the military leader of Hamas, recently told Hamas officials involved in the ceasefire negotiations, “We have the Israelis right where we want them,” according to the Wall Street Journal, which obtained dozens of his messages. He also called civilian casualties, even high numbers of them, “necessary sacrifices.”
U.S. National Security Council communications adviser John Kirby could not confirm Sinwar’s comments, though he said they should come as no surprise given his history and philosophy.
“It should come as a shock to no one that Mr. Sinwar cares nothing at all about the lives of innocent Palestinians that have been caught up in this war, a war he started,” Kirby said. “And it should surprise and shock no one that a beast like Mr. Sinwar would actually take glee in it and see advantage to it.”
Blinken questioned whether Hamas was negotiating in good faith given its new demands.
“At some point in a negotiation, and this has gone back and forth for a long time, you get to a point where, if one side continues to change its demands, including making demands and insisting on changes for things that it already accepted, you have to question whether you have good faith or not,” he said during his press conference in Doha, Qatar.
“The leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Sinwar, believes he is winning the war and has held this belief since at least around February,” Brian Carter, an analyst with the American Enterprise Institute, told the Washington Examiner. “Sinwar does not care about the Palestinian death toll, which he called a ‘necessary sacrifice.’ Sinwar thinks that he can extract additional concessions, too.
“Hamas has taken large numbers of casualties and lost significant infrastructure, but Hamas recognizes that Israel lacks a coherent plan for the war and that Israel is unlikely to fully destroy Hamas,” he added. “Hamas assesses that the continuation of the war is more damaging to Israel’s international standing than the war is to Hamas’s military forces.”
Israeli leaders have vowed to destroy Hamas militarily as well as to ensure they cannot continue to govern in the Gaza Strip, whereas Hamas has said it will not agree to any proposal that does not end the war permanently, ensuring the group’s survival.
Agreeing to a temporary ceasefire deal that includes the release of the hostages would amount to Hamas signing their own “death warrants,” Bradley Bowman, a director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told the Washington Examiner.
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“If you give up the hostages, and you don’t get a commitment for a permanent ceasefire, then your already-signed death warrant remains in effect,” Bowman said, referencing Hamas. “So they have a strong personal incentive to not agree to anything short of a permanent ceasefire.”
Neither Carter nor Bowman said they were surprised that Hamas did not accept the ceasefire proposal.