Hamas senior leader Taher al-Lulu told the AFP yesterday evening (Wednesday) that it rejects recent proposals for a temporary ceasefire and exchange of hostages for Palestinian terrorists held in Israeli prisons.
Al-Lulu said that "the idea of a temporary ceasefire in the war, just to renew the aggression afterward, this is something which we've already expressed our views on." Hamas thus remains adamant that any hostage release is conditioned on a complete end to the war.
Prime Minister Netanyahu had put forward the proposal for a month's ceasefire and an exchange of a maximum number of female hostages or those over 50 for an undetermined number of Palestinian prisoners.
Before him, Egyptian President a-Sisi said that he had proposed a 48-hour ceasefire in exchange for a handful of hostages, something which Prime Minister Netanyahu said he was not informed of.
There are currently about 100 hostages still held in Gaza, with at least half of them considered to still be alive based on currently available information.
