Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official in Beirut, has stated that the multistage proposal that officials from Egypt, Israel, Qatar and the United States put forth this week is unacceptable because it does not include a permanent ceasefire.

It is said that the principles of the deal consist of three to four stages of captive release.

The phases start with the release of women and those over 60.

A second phase would see a handover of female soldiers and men deemed as non-soldiers by Hamas.

The third phase would include male soldiers and bodies remaining inside Gaza.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military would withdraw from some areas of the enclave, but without ending the war.

Israeli soldiers could be redeployed away from some urban areas to allow Palestinians to return home.

Hamdan told a news agency that there is “no way that this will be acceptable by the resistance,” referring to proposed successive pauses in fighting.

Israeli leaders have said they will keep fighting until Hamas is crushed, even while agreeing to long pauses that are accompanied by the release of captives held in Gaza.

Hamdan also said the group seeks the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners being held for acts related to the conflict with Israel, including those serving life sentences.

He mentioned two by name, including Marwan Barghouti, a popular Palestinian uprising leader seen as a unifying figure.

Meanwhile, hundreds of European and American officials signed a letter to their governments denouncing Israel’s war on Gaza as “one of the worst human catastrophes of this century.”

The statement, titled It Is Our Duty To Speak Out When Our Governments’ Policies Are Wrong, denounced policies that “weaken” their nations’ “moral standing” in the world.

“Israel has shown no boundaries in its military operations in Gaza, which has resulted in tens of thousands of preventable civilian deaths, and the deliberate blocking of aid by Israel has led to a humanitarian catastrophe, putting thousands of civilians at risk of starvation and slow death,” the statement noted.

“Our governments have provided the Israeli military operation with public, diplomatic and military support,” it said.

It added, “This support has been given without real conditions or accountability and when faced with humanitarian catastrophe our governments have failed to call for an immediate ceasefire and an end to blockages of necessary food/water/medicine in Gaza.”

Former Israeli Minister Suggests Giving Gaza to Egypt, West Bank To Jordan

Also, former Israeli Defense Minister, Avigdor Liberman suggested that Egypt should control the Gaza Strip and Jordan should control the West Bank.

He added that the possibility of a two-state solution has vanished.

Lieberman, the Head of the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu (Israel is Our Home) party, told a news agency that his solution was pragmatic.

“We understand that this idea of a two-state solution [to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict] has died. It does not exist,” he said.

“We need another approach. All of Area A and a small portion of B” should be und”er Jordanian control through a confederation, while Israel should apply sovereignty to the remainder of Area B and all of Area C.”
Avigdor Liberman

Under the 1995 Oslo Accords, the West Bank including East Jerusalem was divided into three areas: Area A, B, and C, with Area C being fully under Israeli control.