Hamas refused to consider a proposal for a short-term truce in the war in the Gaza Strip, submitted by countries mediating between the warring parties, as it did not satisfy “the needs of the Palestinians“, an official of the Palestinian Islamist movement said today.

A Hamas delegation received that proposal during a meeting Monday in Doha with representatives of Egypt and Qatar, the head of the movement’s political office, who was not named, told AFP.

This included the entry of humanitarian aid into the besieged enclave and a limited exchange of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons for hostages held in Gaza by Hamas after the October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war.

But “the proposal does not include a permanent end to the offensive nor the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip nor the return of the people displaced” by the more than a year of hostilities, the official stressed, reiterating the terms that Hamas calls for a ceasefire.

“The proposal does not meet the needs of our people in terms of security, stability, aid and reconstruction, nor does it allow the normal opening of the crossing points, especially the Rafah one“, on the southern edge of the Palestinian enclave, the official said. Israel has taken control of this crossing point.

The Palestinians want “a full and permanent ceasefire, the complete withdrawal (of the Israeli army) from Gaza, the return of the displaced and the lifting of the siege“, he repeated.