CAIRO: Exiled Hamas chief Khalil Al-Hayya said on Thursday the group has received guarantees from the United States, Arab mediators, and Turkiye that the war in Gaza has permanently ended.
Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas signed an agreement on Thursday to cease fire and free Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, in the first phase of US President Donald Trump’s initiative to end the two-year war in Gaza that has upended the Middle East.
Under the deal, fighting will cease, Israel will partially withdraw from Gaza, and Hamas will free all remaining 48 hostages it captured in the attack that precipitated the war, in exchange for prisoners held by Israel. At the White House, Trump said he believed it would lead to “lasting peace.” Hamas is expected to release the 20 living hostages together, 72 hours after the ceasefire begins.
Hayya, who survived an attempt by Israel to kill him and other Hamas leaders in Qatar a month ago, said the agreement Hamas signed with Israel ends the war in Gaza, opens a key crossing with Egypt, and sees the release by Israel of all jailed Palestinian women and children.
In addition, Israel will release 250 Palestinians serving long terms in Israeli prisons, as well as 1,700 others who have been arrested since the war erupted on October 7, 2023, Hayya said.
Hamas chief: group received guarantees from mediators, US confirming Gaza war ended
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Hamas chief: group received guarantees from mediators, US confirming Gaza war ended
- Hamas will free all remaining 48 Israeli hostages it captured
- Israel will release 250 Palestinians serving long terms in Israeli prisons
Hamas says will give up arms to a Palestinian authority ‘if occupation ends’
- “We accept the deployment of UN forces as a separation force, tasked with monitoring the borders and ensuring compliance with the ceasefire in Gaza,” Hayya says
GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Hamas said Saturday it was ready to hand over its weapons in the Gaza Strip to a Palestinian authority governing the territory on the condition that the Israeli army’s occupation ends.
“Our weapons are linked to the existence of the occupation and the aggression,” Hamas chief negotiator and its Gaza chief Khalil Al-Hayya said in a statement, adding: “If the occupation ends, these weapons will be placed under the authority of the state.” Asked by AFP, Hayya’s bureau said he was referring to a sovereign and independent Palestnian state.
“We accept the deployment of UN forces as a separation force, tasked with monitoring the borders and ensuring compliance with the ceasefire in Gaza,” Hayya added, signalling his group’s rejection of the deployment of an international force in the Strip whose mission would be to disarm it.
