Hamas has reportedly offered a long-term truce with Israel as the war in Gaza continues.
NPR reported that Adam Boehler, President Donald Trump’s hostage affairs envoy, said on Sunday that the terrorist group has offered to cease hostilities and agreed that it would no longer seek to govern the Gaza Strip.
In a round of U.S. and Israeli television interviews, Boehler said a new Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal could take hold in a matter of weeks.
" I believe there is enough there to make a deal between what Hamas wants and what they've accepted, and what Israel wants and it's accepted," Boehler told CNN.
Israel, Hamas and the U.S. will take part in ceasefire talks in Qatar this week, with Trump Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff present — the most serious round of Israel-Hamas negotiations since President Trump was elected.
The U.S. has been holding talks with Hamas to come to a peaceful resolution, a move that goes against Washington’s typical policy about dealing with terrorist entities. Israel is not happy about the move. However, Boehler indicated that the meetings are aimed at protecting Israel’s safety.
After his discussions with Hamas, Boehler said he tried to assuage the concerns of Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, a close confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and leader of Israel's ceasefire negotiations team.
"The reality is what I wanted to do is jumpstart some negotiations that were in a very fragile place, and I wanted to say to Hamas, what is the end game that you want here?" Boehler told CNN.
Hamas still holds 24 hostages in captivity. The U.S. and Israel have been engaged in talks to get the hostages released.
Meanwhile, Israel reportedly cut off the electricity supply to the Gaza Strip on Sunday, according to The Associated Press.
Israel cut off the electricity supply to Gaza, officials said Sunday, affecting a desalination plant producing drinking water for part of the arid territory. Hamas called it part of Israel’s “starvation policy.”
Israel last week suspended supplies of goods to the territory of more than 2 million Palestinians, an echo of the siege it imposed in the earliest days of the war.
Israel is pressing the militant group to accept an extension of the first phase of their ceasefire. That phase ended last weekend. Israel wants Hamas to release half of the remaining hostages in return for a promise to negotiate a lasting truce.
Hamas instead wants to start negotiations on the ceasefire’s more difficult second phase, which would see the release of remaining hostages from Gaza, the withdrawal of Israeli forces and a lasting peace. Hamas is believed to have 24 living hostages and the bodies of 35 others.
The war in Gaza has been raging since October 7, 2023, when Hamas murdered over 1,000 Israelis. Since then, there have been calls from all over the globe for a ceasefire. However, Israel has been intent on eliminating the Hamas threat in Gaza.
Hamas’ offer of a truce might seem to be a welcome sign, given the number of people who have lost their lives on both sides of the conflict. But the terrorist group has shown over and over again that it cannot be trusted.
Let’s say Israel agrees to a five- or ten-year truce. Hamas will simply use this time to rebuild its infrastructure and forces so that it can once again carry out violent attacks against Israel, killing even more civilians.
The hard truth is that Hamas is dedicated to eliminating Israel and won’t stop until it no longer exists. Any offer of a truce is likely a ploy to buy the terrorist group time to recover from Israel’s offensive. Israel’s government knows this, so it is unlikely that they would agree to any peace deal that doesn’t involve the annihilation of Hamas.