War cabinet cancels meeting following Hamas' rejection of Israel's proposal

Following reports of Hamas' rejection of Israel's proposal for hostage negotiations, the war cabinet's scheduled meeting tonight (Thursday) has been cancelled.

The Saudi paper a-Sharq reported earlier that Hamas has rejected the Israeli proposal for a hostage deal, which they claim is "fundamentally different than the proposal presented by President Joe Biden."

In a memo distributed amongst the Palestinian factions, Hamas said the deal is a bad one as "it does not assure a permanent cease fire - but rather a temporary cease fire. The three stages established are not connected to one another, with the aim of narrowing the agreement to one stage where the aggression is temporarily halted, their forces remain in the area of the Gaza Strip, and the occupation gets in return those hostages they care about, and then they will renew the war of annihilation against our people."

Hamas said that they looked favorably at what they claim is President Biden's original proposal since they serve as a basis for a permanent cease-fire, the withdrawal of the army of occupation from the Gaza Strip, injecting a large amount of humanitarian aid, the return of the displaced, rebuilding, and a hostage exchange."