Hamas prepared for 'immediate' ceasefire in Gaza but claims Israel has not offered any 'serious proposals' in months
14 November 2024, 18:08
Hamas has announced it is ready to reach a ceasefire agreement in Gaza “immediately,” though it claims Israel has not presented any “serious proposals” in recent months, a group official has said.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
Dr. Basem Naim also stated that the group has no regrets over the October 7 attacks that resulted in the deaths of 1,200 Israelis last year.
Israel's subsequent war in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 people, Palestinian health officials have stated. More than half of those killed were reported to be women and children.
He further accused Israel of committing “large-scale massacres” in Gaza and said that since the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, no serious proposals for a ceasefire have been received.
Read more: Eva Longoria reveals she has fled 'dystopian' America as Trump names radical right wing cabinet
Speaking on The World With Yalda Hakim on Sky News, Dr. Naim said the most recent “well-defined, brokered deal” took place on July 2.
"It was discussed in all details and I think we were near to a ceasefire... which can end this war, offer a permanent ceasefire and total withdrawal and prisoner exchange.
"Unfortunately [Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu preferred to go the other way," Dr Naim said.
When asked about the upcoming U.S. administration change, Dr. Naim said Hamas is urging "any president" – including Donald Trump – to take immediate action to halt the conflict.
When asked if Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel led to the surge of violence in Gaza, Dr. Naim responded, He replied: "It is exactly as if you are accusing the victims for the crimes of the aggressor."
But Hakim pressed him, asking: "But Dr Naim, you're also speaking as though you are talking as an innocent Palestinian civilian.
"Your movement launched an attack on Israel that left 1,200 dead and several hundred people who weren't in the military - innocent civilians, women and children - taken into Gaza.
"So you launched an attack which triggered then the events of the last year?"In response, Dr Naim claimed that a week before 7 October 2023, hundreds of Palestinians were killed near the Gaza border and that people were starving.
"It is an act of defence," he said of the 7 October attacks.
He added: "I am a member of Hamas, but at the same time I am an innocent Palestinian civilian because I have the right to live a free and dignified life and I have the right to defend myself - to defend my family."
When asked if he regrets the attack on Israel, Dr. Naim responded, "Do you believe that a prisoner who is knocking the door or who is trying to get out of the prison, he has to regret his will to be?
"This is part of our dignity. Part of our dignity... to defend ourselves. To defend our children."
Israel's war in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 people, Palestinian health officials said.
The officials do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but say more than half of those killed were women and children.
The Israel-Hamas war began after Palestinian militants stormed into Israel on October 7 2023, killing some 1,200 people - mostly civilians - and abducting 250 others.
Lebanon's Hezbollah group began firing into Israel on October 8 2023, in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza.
Since then, more than 3,200 people have been killed in Lebanon and more than 14,200 wounded, the country's health ministry reported.
In Israel, 76 people have been killed, including 31 soldiers.
