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Hamas to Israel: No renegotiation, implement the ceasefire deal as signed

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Mar 3, 2025

The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has once again firmly rejected the idea of extending the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement with Israel instead of proceeding with the already agreed-upon phased deal.

"We will not accept an extension of the first phase and insist on implementing the agreement in all its stages as it was signed," Senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Mardawi said on Sunday, according to Resistance News Network.

Mardawi asserted that the Israeli regime will only retrieve its prisoners through a prisoner exchange deal.

He said Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is delusional if he thinks he can achieve through an "starvation war" what he failed to accomplish on the battlefield.

On Sunday, Israel announced that it was halting the delivery of much-needed humanitarian supplies into the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, after the first phase of the ceasefire came to an end a day earlier.

Hamas slammed the move as a "cheap blackmail, a war crime and a coup" against the ceasefire agreement.

Netanyahu's office said earlier that it had accepted a plan by U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, for extending the first phase of the truce for the Ramadan and Passover periods.

Mardawi also insisted that there is no room for "renegotiation," urging the mediators to compel the Israeli regime to implement the agreement's terms as signed.

Hazem Qassem, a spokesman for Hamas, said on Sunday night that the movement is in continuous contact with the mediating parties to ensure and implement the remaining stages of the ceasefire agreement.

Hamas and Israel announced the three-phase ceasefire deal on January 15, following U.N.-endorsed indirect negotiations between the two sides. The ceasefire took effect four days later.

The Palestinian resistance movement has repeatedly said that it remains committed to the negotiations for the second phase of the deal, asserting that Israel has "no choice" but to engage in the talks.

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