Hamas official says 'necessary to reach a ceasefire' in Gaza
World
He said this war cannot continue indefinitely, and it is therefore necessary to reach a ceasefire.
GAZA CITY (AFP) - A Hamas official told AFP on Tuesday (Apr 8) that it was "necessary to reach a ceasefire" in the Gaza Strip, three weeks after Israel resumed bombardments on the Palestinian territory.
"This war cannot continue indefinitely, and it is therefore necessary to reach a ceasefire," Hossam Badran, a member of Hamas' political bureau, told AFP.
He added that "communication with the mediators is still ongoing" but that "so far, there are no new proposals".
United States President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a day earlier that new negotiations were in the works and aimed at getting more hostages released from captivity in Gaza.
"We're working now on another deal that we hope will succeed, and we're committed to getting all the hostages out," Netanyahu told reporters in the Oval Office.
Trump, for his part, said: "We are trying very hard to get the hostages out. We're looking at another ceasefire, we'll see what happens."
The US, Qatar and Egypt brokered a fragile ceasefire whose first phase took effect on Jan 19, before ending with Israel's resumption of air strikes on Gaza on Mar 18.
The truce had allowed the return of 33 Israeli hostages, eight of whom were dead, in exchange for the release of some 1,800 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
Badran told AFP on Tuesday that Hamas "is open to all ideas that would lead to a ceasefire and stop the genocide enacted against our Palestinian people".
The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said Tuesday that at least 1,449 Palestinians have been killed in the renewed Israeli operations since Mar 18, taking the overall death toll since the start of the war to 50,810.
The war was triggered by Hamas' Oct 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Of the 251 hostages abducted during Hamas' Oct 7 attack, 58 remain in captivity in Gaza, including 34 who the Israeli military says are dead.
