Description: Following the US President’s ultimatum, Hamas has issued a statement which was described as accepting the agreement around the conceptualized core principles of peace and cessation of hostilities. In the statement issued by Hamas, the group has agreed to release the remaining Israeli hostages, dead or alive, exclude itself from the future government of the Gaza Strip and engage in negotiations which would iron out the remaining disputable points of the peace agreement. In their response, Hamas has failed to address the issues of the disarmament of their armed wing, ignored the points of the future security architecture of the enclave, i.e., the presence of internationally sponsored peacekeeping troops and ignored the amnesty clause for those fighters who would choose to surrender. The response was positively received by the Trump administration which has sent Special envoy Steven Witkoff, and Trump’s son in law, Jared Kushner to continue negotiating the other parts of the agreement in Egypt, alongside Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister, Ron Dermer and representatives from Hamas’ political wing.
Impact: Hamas’ response has spurred some hope for the cessation of the armed fighting and addressing the devastating humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip, however, peace currently remains an elusive prospect. Large number of contested points in Trump’s peace agreement are yet to be agreed upon which represents a compromising situation that could collapse the latest peace initiative. Hamas is in a precarious position, having its military capabilities reduced to virtually non existing capacities while evident internal divisions have prompted the group’s political wing to isolate points such as the disarmament clause or the amnesty and international peacekeeping clauses from the final response. Israel is yet to publicly endorse Hamas’ response which indicates that Netanyahu and his government remain under pressure to continue the military campaign until Hamas’ capitulation. The fate of the peace initiative currently lies in the hands of the mediators and the political willingness of both Hamas and Israel to compromise on key issues. Some sort of an intermediate ceasefire could potentially be agreed, which would have no effect if the disputed points of the agreement are not consolidated around a broader peace framework.