Hamas unhappy with ceasefire proposal because it favors Israel's right to exist

Hamas is spitting mad, and they’re not shy about it. A source tight with the group told The Jerusalem Post that Hamas sees the latest ceasefire and hostage deal from US envoy Steve Witkoff as a blatant pro-Israel tilt, more lopsided than anything they’ve seen before. “Screwed over” is how they feel, with one insider griping to the Post that the US is peddling a proposal that doesn’t even pretend to guarantee an end to the war. 

No wonder they’re not buying Witkoff’s pitch at face value, Hamas is demanding tweaks, and they’re not whispering it.

The deal’s got some meat: 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 would be freed, with 125 Palestinian lifers and 1,111 post-October 7 prisoners walking out of Israeli jails, according to Saudi outlet Al-Hadath. Gaza would also get a beefed-up aid flow. But here’s the problem: Hamas has to cough up all hostages in a week, leaving them with zero leverage. Personally, they should be made to release all the hostages immediately, but that isn't going to happen.

A source close to Hamas told Walla that Witkoff rolled over for most of Ron Dermer’s demands in a Tuesday sit-down, making the deal smell like an Israeli wish list.

Worse, there’s no ironclad US promise that the 60-day ceasefire will stick or morph into something permanent, which is always had done historically. Hamas has even promised to attack Israel again and again, until it's destroyed [and therefore all the Jews would be killed. And they try to say that it's Israel, not Hamas, who's employing genocide].

The source fumed to Walla: no clause says the truce holds if talks drag past 60 days, and Israel could pull a March rerun, breaking it unilaterally.

Hamas’ leadership isn’t playing coy. “The Hamas Movement’s leadership has received the new Witkoff proposal from the mediators and is reviewing it responsibly to serve the interests of our people, provide them relief, and achieve a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip,” they said in a statement. 

But Basem Naim, a Hamas political bureau heavy, wasn’t so diplomatic. “The agreement that Israel agreed to does not meet our demands,” he told Reuters, adding that they’re “responsibly considering” their next move. Translation: they’re not signing this anytime soon.

Now, Al-Hadath’s report is stirring the pot, claiming Hamas is on the verge of agreeing to the 60-day ceasefire for those hostages. That’s in direct conflict with what sources are telling the Post and Walla. A senior Israeli official threw more shade, saying, “Contrary to reports, the Witkoff agreement proposed in recent days did not determine the new deployment line of the IDF, nor the manner in which aid would be distributed within the framework of a ceasefire.” So, what’s the real deal? Nobody’s saying.

The proposal itself? It’s got two rounds of hostage releases—10 living, 18 dead—plus that 60-day truce, extendable if both sides play nice. The IDF would pull back from parts of Gaza, and the UN would step in to handle aid distribution, a source told the Post. Sounds tidy, but Hamas isn’t biting. They’re digging in, convinced Witkoff’s deal is a trap dressed up as a lifeline.

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