Hamas says it is ready to stop ongoing fighting if Israel accepts Gaza ceasefire

Hamas has communicated that it would end the ongoing fighting against Israel if a truce is reached amid Israel’s decision to send its spy chief at the Gaza ceasefire talks to be brokered by Egypt, media reports said.

According to Reuters, an Egyptian security delegation met with a delegation of Hamas leaders in Cairo as part of efforts to resume the Gaza ceasefire negotiations, Egypt’s state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV said on Thursday.

While all previous attempts to end the war had failed, a senior Hamas official told AFP that a delegation from the group’s Doha-based leadership discussed “ideas and proposals” related to a Gaza truce with Egyptian officials in Cairo on Thursday.”

Hamas has expressed readiness to stop the fighting, but Israel must commit to a ceasefire, withdraw from the Gaza Strip, allow the return of displaced people, agree to a serious prisoner exchange deal and allow the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza,” the official told the news agency.

Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces on Thursday said Hamas commander Mohammad Abu Itiwi, who also worked for the U.N. aid agency in the Gaza Strip, has been killed.

The UNRWA has not commented on the issue yet.Sharing details about Itiwi, IDF posted on X: “During the Oct. 7 Massacre, Mohammad Abu Itiwi was involved in the murder and abduction of Israeli civilians and led the murderous attack on the bomb shelter on Route 232 in the area of Re’im in southern Israel. Most of the victims of his attack during the massacre were partygoers from the Nova music festival.”

The IDF said Abu Itiwi was a Nukhba Commander in the Al Bureij Battalion of Hamas’ Central Camps Brigade.

“This terrorist was eliminated yesterday in a joint IDF and ISA operation,” IDF said.

Since the deadly Hamas-led invasion of Israel a year ago triggered the ongoing war, almost 48,000 people in Gaza have been killed during the resulting Israeli offensive, including 230 UNRWA staff members, other humanitarian workers and journalists.

Six UNRWA staff members were among 34 people killed in September when two Israeli airstrikes hit a school-turned-shelter in Gaza.