It is a “very generous offer” in the words of David Cameron, the British Foreign Secretary and a new hope for Israeli families who are awaiting the return of their loved ones still in the hands of Hamas. A proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip has been presented to the Palestinian Islamist movement. It provides for a cessation of hostilities for 40 days associated with the release of hostages and prisoners, David Cameron declared in Riyadh on Monday.
This new round of negotiations comes seven months after Hamas’ unprecedented attack on the Jewish state and the retaliatory outbreak of war in the Palestinian enclave. So far, negotiations for a new truce, driven by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, have not been successful. Since the start of the conflict, fighting has only stopped for a week, at the end of November. This short ceasefire allowed the release of 80 hostages held by Hamas.
A Hamas delegation was expected in Egypt this Monday where it should respond to the mediators’ latest proposal in favor of a truce in Gaza associated with the release of hostages, after almost seven months of war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
“I hope Hamas will accept this deal and, frankly, all the pressure in the world and all eyes should be on them today to tell them to accept this deal,” David Cameron said. He added that the proposed framework would lead to a “stop to the fighting that we all want to see, so desperately”.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also hopes to see Hamas accept this “extraordinarily generous” ceasefire proposal. “Right now, the only thing that stands between Hamas and the people of Gaza is the ceasefire,” insisted the American official.
David Cameron for a “two-state solution”
Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been trying for months to broker a deal between Israel and Hamas, and recent momentum appears to suggest new momentum toward stopping the fighting. The British Foreign Minister also pleaded in favor of a “political horizon for a two-state solution”, with an independent Palestine coexisting with Israel.
“Those responsible for (the attack) on October 7, the leaders of Hamas should leave Gaza and the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza should be dismantled,” he said. “The Palestinian people must have a political future, but Israel’s security must also be assured, and these two elements must go hand in hand,” he concluded.
