SENIOR Hamas official Dr. Basem Naim stated Tuesday that Hamas cannot accept any agreement that does not clearly commit to halting the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip. ‘Witkoff (Steve Witkoff, US special envoy to the Middle East) returned with a proposal that deviates significantly from the terms previously discussed. It contains vague language and lacks any firm guarantee for an end to the war,’ Naim said.
According to Naim, even Israel’s allies are beginning to acknowledge that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the primary obstacle to reaching a ceasefire agreement. He reiterated that Hamas and other Palestinian factions are committed to any genuine opportunity to stop the genocide and ease the suffering of the Palestinian people — but only if backed by binding guarantees.
All efforts for a ceasefire have been rejected.
A drone flew over the Madleen, the humanitarian ship from the Freedom Flotilla coalition, as it sailed toward the Gaza Strip in an effort to break the Israeli blockade and deliver aid amid ongoing genocide.
French Member of the European Parliament Rima Hassan, one of 12 international activists on board, confirmed on Tuesday night that a drone hovered above the vessel, raising concerns of an imminent Israeli attack.
The Madleen departed from the southern Italian island of Sicily on Sunday, aiming to defy the siege and provide urgently needed humanitarian relief to Palestinians in Gaza. The mission follows a failed attempt in early May, when another aid ship was targeted by two drones launched by Israeli occupation forces (IOF) near Malta.
In a separate interview with Al Jazeera earlier on Tuesday, MEP Hassan warned that the activists are preparing for a range of possible threats, including drone or submarine strikes, sabotage from below the ship, or arrest by IOF.
‘What we might face is dangerous, but it is nothing compared to what Palestinians have endured for decades — not just since October 7, 2023,’ Hassan said.
The Madleen is the 36th ship organised by the Freedom Flotilla coalition. Israel has consistently threatened to use force against any vessels attempting to reach Gaza.
People in Gaza are closely following the ongoing ceasefire negotiations and the back-and-forth responses to the various proposals put forward by mediators. All these efforts aim to revive an agreement that would halt the bloodshed in Gaza — an agreement that was violated and torn apart by the Israeli occupying state on March 18.
Gazans aren’t asking for much — they just want one thing: a deal that brings about a real ceasefire and ushers in a new phase where aid and commercial goods are allowed in, to end the hunger crisis that has plagued them since March 2. This blockade has caused an unprecedented famine across the entire Gaza Strip.
Since the war resumed on March 18, the Israeli army has killed 4,117 Palestinians and wounded 12,013 others—raising the death toll since the start of the genocide to 54,381, with 124,054 injured, in addition to thousands of people still missing.
Stop the killing and starvation! ‘We want this war to end immediately — every extra minute means more bloodshed. Time is measured in blood here,’ says Abu Ali.
‘We want aid to enter like before, and we need goods to come into Gaza, because we’re starving and there’s nothing left in the markets.’
Abu Ali is a displaced man from eastern Rafah who was unable to return to his home during the last truce. He said: ‘Isn’t it time for real action to force the occupiers to stop killing us in every way possible? Is there no wisdom or conscience left in this world to stop the genocide we’re enduring — something history has never seen before?’
Um Raed, a woman in her sixties, expressed her deep frustration with the endless proposals. Speaking in simple colloquial Arabic to a reporter from the Palestinian Information Centre, she said:
‘We just want to live in peace. We don’t like wars and we don’t want them. Give us our rights, release our children from prison, and everything else will fall into place.’
She also shared her heartfelt wish to see a ceasefire before the upcoming Eid al-Adha holiday.
‘Our children are dying, their future is gone. We’ve been pushed back to the Stone Age in Gaza — everything is destroyed. What more do they want from us?’
Despite harsh criticism of the latest proposal from US envoy Steve Witkoff — widely seen as favouring the demands of the Israeli occupation and Netanyahu’s government — leaders of Hamas, political analysts, and commentators close to the Movement have indicated that the group responded with a conditional acceptance.
They added notes requesting guarantees that would force Israel to commit to a real ceasefire and allow sufficient aid into Gaza, especially after nearly three months of deliberate starvation.
The time has come for the working class in the USA, the UK and the EU to take action on behalf of the Palestinians. They must call indefinite general strikes to bring down their capitalist governments and bring in Workers Governments and socialism. This is the only way forward!
