Hamas announces readiness to reach comprehensive prisoner swap deal if Israel stopped its war

CAIRO - 30 May 2024: Hamas said that they informed the mediators that they are ready to reach a complete agreement that includes a comprehensive prisoner swap deal if Israel stopped its war and aggression against the people in Gaza.

In a Thursday statement, Hamas affirmed that they have shown flexibility and positivity with mediators’ efforts throughout all previous negotiating rounds, leading to the announcement of approval of the mediator’s proposal on May 6th.

“However, the occupation used these negotiations as a cover for the continuation of aggression and massacres against our Palestinian people, and responded to our positive position by invading the city of Rafah and occupying the Rafah crossing,” Hamas said

The statement added that Israel made observations that led to disrupting the efforts of the mediators.

The Palestinian movement added that it will not accept to be part of this policy by continuing negotiations in light of aggression, killing, siege, starvation, and genocide of Gaza people.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that 45 individuals were martyred, including 23 women, children, and elderly people, and 249 others were injured in the Israeli occupation's massacre in Rafah, Palestine, on May 26.

Israeli occupation forces committed a new massacre against the Palestinian people, known in the media as “The Tents Incineration”, in the late hours of Sunday evening.

They bombed camps for displaced Palestinians in northwest Rafah, resulting in dozens of martyrs and injured individuals.

Egypt has strongly condemned the deliberate shelling by Israeli forces of the refugee tents in the Palestinian city of Rafah, which resulted in hundreds of deaths and injuries among the defenseless displaced Palestinians, considering this act a new and blatant violation of international humanitarian law and the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 regarding the protection of civilians in times of war.

According to a statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday, Egypt considers this tragic attack a continuation of the targeting of unarmed civilians and a systematic policy aimed at expanding the scope of killing and destruction in the Gaza Strip, making it uninhabitable.