Hamas has responded to a Qatar-proposed hostage–prisoner swap between the terrorist group and Israel.
In a statement, Hamas said that it “dealt with the proposal in a positive spirit, ensuring a comprehensive and complete ceasefire, ending the aggression against our people, ensuring relief, shelter, and reconstruction, lifting the siege on the Gaza Strip, and completing a prisoner exchange.”
The announcement was made on Feb. 6 by Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani at a joint news conference with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the Qatari capital of Doha.
“I would like to inform the media that we have received a reply from Hamas with regards to the general framework of the agreement with regard to hostages,” Mr. Al Thani said. “The reply includes some comments, but in general, it is positive. However, given the sensitivity of the circumstances, we will not tackle details.
“We are optimistic, and we have delivered the response to the Israeli party.”
President Joe Biden said on Feb. 6 that Hamas’s response appeared “a little over the top.” The administration will be reviewing it.
It’s far from guaranteed that Israel will accept the proposal.
Mr. Al Thani and Mr. Blinken met “to discuss ongoing efforts to secure the release of the hostages held by Hamas and enable an extended humanitarian pause in the conflict in Gaza,” according to State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.
Qatar, a state sponsor of Hamas, has served as an intermediary between the terrorist group and the Jewish state. Hamas’s leader, Ismail Haniyeh, resides in Qatar.
While the details of the proposal haven’t been publicized, it reportedly would consist of a weekslong ceasefire that would include Israel releasing Palestinian prisoners in exchange for tens of hostages in Gaza, which Hamas controls.
It would also include a provision for the bodies of dead hostages to be returned to Israel.
There are 136 hostages in Gaza, 31 of whom have died, according to the Israeli government.
“We have informed 31 families that their captured loved ones are no longer among the living and that we have pronounced them dead,” Israel Defense Forces chief spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said on Feb. 6.
Hamas, which is backed by Iran, launched rockets from Gaza into Israel and invaded the Jewish state on Oct. 7, 2023, resulting in the largest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Hamas terrorists killed Israelis, raped women, maimed people, and took more than 200 hostages into Gaza.
All of this occurred as Jews were celebrating Simchat Torah, a Jewish holiday to mark the completion of reading the Torah and starting to read the Five Books of Moses again. In addition, Hamas gunmen opened fire at attendees of a music festival in Israel close to its border with Gaza.
What is Hamas?
Hamas has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the UK, Australia, Canada, and the Organization of American States.Hamas was created by Ahmed Yassin and six other Muslims in 1987, during the First Intifada in Israel. It’s an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, an extremist organization that has expressed hostility toward Israel and the West. Hamas stands for “Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya,” or “Islamic Resistance Movement.”
There are presently some 20,000 to 25,000 members of Hamas, according to the National Counterterrorism Center.
Hamas, whose militants wear a green headband, has a military wing as well as a political unit.
Hamas’s charter, published in 1988, calls for the Jewish state to be wiped off the map.
In 2017, Hamas published a “document of general principles and policies” stating that “a real state of Palestine is a state that has been liberated.”
