The Palestinian Hamas Movement has rejected Egypt’s proposal, linking a ceasefire to its disarmament. The resistance group made it clear on April 15, 2025 that it would not lay down weapons as demanded by Israel.

Earlier, Israel set conditions for a new 45-day ceasefire brokered by Egypt and Qatar, mentioning that Hamas should release all the 11 Israeli hostages together and lay down its arms. The Zionist Regime assured Egypt and Qatar that it would release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and suspend attacks on Gaza for the next 45 days, if Hamas releases 11 Israeli hostages. Although the death toll has crossed 51,000 in Gaza, the Palestinian outfit has hinted that it might free 11 hostages in exchange for an extended ceasefire, but would not lay down weapons before any deal could be struck with Israel.

A senior Hamas official, on condition of anonymity, told Al Jazeera Arabic: “Our negotiating delegation was surprised that the proposal Egypt conveyed included an explicit text regarding the disarmament of the resistance. Egypt informed us that there would be no agreement to stop the war without negotiating the disarmament of the resistance.” According to the official, the position of Hamas has not budged. He stated: “There would be no ceasefire without a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and an end to the war. Hamas’ weapons were not subject to discussion.” For his part, senior Hamas leader Sami Abu Zuhri said: “There is no question of disarmament (of Hamas). This is daydreaming.” He further said that at least two elements of the proposal were non-starters.

Meanwhile, a top Hamas commander informed the press on April 15 that they would release the 21-year-old Edan Alexander, an Israeli-American hostage captive in Gaza, “with special respect to the US” on the very first day of the ceasefire in accordance with Israeli conditions. Later, 10 more Israeli hostages would be released in two phases. In exchange, Tel Aviv must release 120 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences in the Jewish nation and more than 1,100 Palestinians detained without any charges (by the Israeli authorities) since October 7, 2023.

Political analysts are of the opinion that Israel has repeatedly claimed that it would occupy Gaza by removing the Palestinians, apart from actively engaging its Ministry of Defence for that purpose. In such a scenario, Hamas would never accept the disarmament-related condition. According to analysts, such a move would make it easier for Israel to carry out genocide in Gaza. Hamas would try its best to resist Israel from killing innocent Palestinians.

Incidentally, Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire, brokered by Qatar with the help of Egypt and the US, on the night of January 15, 2025. The ceasefire came into effect on January 19. However, the Israeli Army unilaterally broke the ceasefire in early March and resumed attacks on the Gaza Strip.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das