Senior Hamas official Basem Naim has emphasised that no new ceasefire agreement exists, accusing Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu of seeking to undermine the current three-stage deal, which came into effect on January 19, 2025.
Speaking to the press on Sunday, Naim affirmed that the only valid agreement is the original three-phase ceasefire deal signed under Egyptian, Qatari, and American sponsorship.
He slammed Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu’s US-backed moves in this regard as a ‘blatant coup against the ceasefire agreement’, and held the Israeli government and the United States administration fully responsible for any escalation and loss of lives on both sides.
‘They are tampering with an agreement that was expected to bring some stability and security to everyone and pave the way forward,’ he said.
He also urged the international community to intervene and pressure the Israeli government to abide by the signed agreement in order to spare the region further escalation.
At the weekend, Netanyahu’s office announced its agreement to a US proposal for a temporary ceasefire during the current holy month of Ramadan and the Jewish holiday of Passover (April 12-20).
The US plan includes the release of half of Israeli captives held in Gaza. However, the Hamas Movement dismissed the plan as an attempt to sabotage the original agreement.
According to Israel’s account of US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff’s proposal, half of the remaining Israeli captives – living and dead – would be released on the first day of the extended ceasefire, and the remaining captives would be released at the end of the period if a permanent ceasefire is reached.
Emboldened by the support of the US administration, the Israeli government ordered all aid corridors into Gaza to be closed on Sunday after Hamas rejected Witkoff’s proposal.
Dia Al-Agha goes home to Khan Younis after 33 years in Israeli prisons
After 33 years of incarceration in Israeli occupation prisons, Dia Al-Agha has finally returned to the embrace of his mother and his hometown of Khan Younis, having not set foot in his home since he was seventeen years old.
The resistance secured the hero Dia’s freedom on the first day of Ramadan, allowing him to share his first iftar with his mother, Najat Al-Agha, after decades of deprivation.
However, this moment was mixed with incomplete joy and deep-rooted pain.
Imprisonment was not merely lost years, but an experience filled with oppression and cruelty.
Al-Agha speaks of systematic torture, noting that the recent Israeli aggression on Gaza was even harsher than the years he spent in prison.
He states: ‘During the period of aggression, we faced systematic torture, as we were denied food, drink, and medical treatment.
‘The raids and assaults on us increased, especially against prisoners from Gaza.
‘Those days were more painful than all the years of my imprisonment combined.’
He adds that the prison administration employed deliberate starvation tactics, as meals were barely sufficient to keep the prisoners alive, leading to a noticeable deterioration in their health and significant weight loss.
For his mother, Najat Al-Agha, the spectre of death haunted her before she had the chance to embrace her son again.
His father passed away in 2005 while Dia was behind bars, and he was not allowed to attend his funeral.
As the release date approached, the mother nearly lost hope after the occupation delayed her son’s release at the last moment, causing her health to deteriorate from despair and fear of not seeing him free.
Najat says: ‘Dia is no longer the seventeen-year-old boy; he has come to freedom at fifty.
‘Gloomy Ramadans have passed for decades, and now he finally sits at our table, but my heart is still with the thousands of prisoners who have not had this opportunity.’
She didn’t just wait for her son in silence; she travelled the world with delegations from the Prisoners and Freed Prisoners Affairs Authority, carrying the message of the detainees.
She has never stopped participating in weekly sit-ins outside the International Committee of the Red Cross to demand the release of prisoners.
Despite breathing the air of freedom, Al-Agha asserts that his joy will remain incomplete until all prisoners are liberated, as he left behind thousands of detainees enduring harsher conditions than ever before.
Since the recent Israeli aggression, 60 prisoners have been martyred inside prisons, while thousands remain in captivity, amidst international silence regarding their suffering.
456 Gaza prisoners were released in the seventh batch of the ceasefire agreement, arriving at the European Gaza Hospital showing signs of exhaustion and torture.
Thus, Dia Al-Agha returned to his mother after three decades, but his heart remains tied there, behind bars, where he left his brothers in captivity, awaiting a moment of freedom that may come or be delayed, just as his return was postponed for many long years.
