Report: Hamas rejects Israeli ceasefire proposal

Hamas has rejected a ceasefire proposal by Israel, according to the Wall Street Journal. 

Egyptian officials told WSJ that Hamas rejected an Israeli offer to “stop fighting for one week in exchange for dozens of hostages, saying the group wouldn’t discuss releasing their Israeli captives until a cease-fire first goes into effect.”

This comes as Hamas leader Ishmail Haniyeh led a high level delegation to Egypt to restart ceasefire negotiations with Israel on Wednesday.

Lebanese news outlet al-Akhbar also reported on the negotiations, saying a proposal to release 10 Palestinian prisoners for every Israeli hostage held by the terror groups in Gaza.

Israel is insisting that the remaining women and children be released first, while Hamas has said it’s only interested in a long-lasting ceasefire that would allow it to continue controlling Gaza, despite breaking the last ceasefire with Israel on December 1 and promising to commit October 7 attacks again.

Meanwhile, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir threatened to topple the government if it agrees to scale down its military operations in Gaza, as requested by the United States.

“If anyone intends, God forbid, to halt the IDF before Hamas has been defeated and all the hostages have been returned, he should take into account that Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) will not be with him,” he said.

“The idea of reducing activity in Gaza is a failure of war management by the small [war] cabinet. It should be dismantled immediately. The time has come to restore the reins to the wider [security] cabinet,” he added, referring to the war cabinet consisting of Prime Minister Netanyahu, Benny Gantz and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.