LONDON: The leader of the military wing of Hamas in Gaza has rejected a US peace proposal, the BBC reported on Thursday.
Izz Al-Din Al-Haddad has reportedly indicated that the group will continue to fight as he believes the proposal, backed by Israel, is designed to destroy Hamas.
Reports earlier this week suggested that senior Hamas members in Qatar were open to negotiating aspects of the 20-point plan, which includes the group’s disarmament and surrender of any future role in governing Gaza.
However, its military wing holds greater sway over proceedings given that it holds the 48 hostages remaining in Gaza, only 20 of whom are thought to be alive.
One major stumbling block is the requirement for all hostages to be released within 72 hours of the ceasefire, which would rob Hamas of further leverage.
Senior Hamas figures in Gaza also do not believe that Israel will abide by the deal, regardless of US guarantees, after its efforts to assassinate members of its political leadership in Doha last month.
After the proposal was announced on Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated on X that the deal would allow the Israeli military continued access to parts of Gaza, and that his government would “forcibly resist” the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state, defying the US proposal to create a “credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood.”
Hamas has maintained that it will refuse any efforts to disarm until a Palestinian state has been established.
Israel has killed at least 66,225 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023, according to local health authorities.