The Palestinian resistance group Hamas has stressed that it will only accept a prisoner exchange agreement with Israel if it agrees to a full ceasefire and the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
“The return of (Israeli) occupying prisoners has three prices. The first is to facilitate the return of our people to normal life. The second is to end the aggression, and the third is a real exchange of prisoners in which our 10,000 prisoners in Israeli prisons would be freed,” said Khalil al- Hayya, a member of the political bureau of the group, in an interview with the Qatari “Al Jazeera TV”.
He said that Israel, accused of genocide, refuses to withdraw from Gaza and does not allow displaced Palestinians to return to their homes.
On Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Hamas’ proposal for a cease-fire and prisoner exchange as a “delusion.”
“Netanyahu last week went back on what he agreed to in the Paris paper,” al-Hayya said.
According to a Palestinian source, on February 7, Hamas proposed a three-phase plan for a ceasefire in Gaza that includes a 135-day pause in fighting in exchange for the release of hostages.
The original framework agreement was worked out at last month’s meeting of top officials from the United States, Israel, Qatar and Egypt in Paris.
Israel believes 134 Israelis are trapped in Gaza.
29,092 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since October 7.
On January 26, following a genocide lawsuit filed by the Republic of South Africa, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel must refrain from any actions related to the killing, attacks and destruction of the residents of the Gaza Strip and take all measures to prevent genocide.
According to the United Nations, due to the Israeli offensive, 85 percent of the population of the Gaza Strip has been internally displaced and faces an acute shortage of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60 percent of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, AA writes.
