Hamas says its ready to begin a round of indirect negotiations with the Israelis to reach an agreement on the points of contention that will ensure an end to the humanitarian tragedy

Hamas announced Sunday evening its readiness to immediately begin a round of indirect negotiations with the Israelis to reach an agreement on the points of contention, ensuring an end to the humanitarian tragedy and leading to a permanent ceasefire.

This came the day after Hama announced that it had submitted its response to the US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff’s proposal regarding the Gaza Strip to mediators, which he and Tel Aviv categorically rejected.

In a statement posted on Telegram, Hama said, “We welcome the continued Qatari and Egyptian efforts to end the war waged by the Zionist occupation against our people in the Gaza Strip”.

The statement affirmed the movement’s readiness to immediately begin a round of indirect negotiations to reach an agreement on the points of contention, ensuring relief for our people and ending the humanitarian tragedy, leading to a permanent ceasefire and a complete withdrawal of the occupation forces.

Egypt and Qatar expressed their hope for a swift, temporary truce between Israel and Hamas, lasting for 60 days, leading to a permanent ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip.

The statement expressed Egypt and Qatar’s hope that an agreement would be reached that would alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza, leading to a complete end to the war and the commencement of reconstruction of the Strip in accordance with the plan adopted by the emergency Arab Summit in Cairo on March 4.

For their part, Qatar and Egypt announced on Sunday their intention to intensify efforts to reach a truce in Gaza, amid stalled talks between Israel and Hamas more than 19 months after the start of the war in the Strip.

A joint statement issued by the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated, “Qatar and Egypt, in coordination with the United States, affirm their intention to intensify efforts to overcome the obstacles facing the negotiations”.

For its part, Hamas affirmed its readiness to immediately begin a round of indirect negotiations to reach an agreement on the points of contention.

Hamas announced on Saturday that it had provided a “positive response” to a US proposal it received during the week, but Washington’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, deemed its response “completely unacceptable”.

“Hamas must accept the proposal we presented as a basis for negotiations that we can begin as early as next week,” Witkoff wrote on X.

From his part, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Hamas’s response “set the process back”.

In contrast, a Hamas leader criticized the Americans on Sunday for backtracking on previously agreed-upon terms.

At the end of May, Netanyahu linked the end of the war to Hamas’s “denial” and “disarmament” of the Gaza Strip, a proposal rejected by the Palestinian movement, which took control of the territory in 2007.