Is Hamas Lying…Again?

We’re told in a report from The Jerusalem Post that Hamas agrees with a ceasefire proposal:

Hamas has agreed to a Gaza ceasefire proposal it attributed to US special envoy Steve Witkoff for a Gaza ceasefire, a Palestinian official close to the group told Reuters on Monday.

The new proposal, which sees the release of 10 hostages and 70 days of truce, was reportedly received by Hamas through mediators.

Here are the details of what Hamas apparently agreed to:

“The proposal includes the release of 10 living Israeli hostages held by Hamas in two groups in return for a 70-day ceasefire and a partial withdrawal from the Gaza Strip,” the source said.

But did Witkoff actually propose this? Hamas says so:

The proposal also sees the release of Palestinian prisoners by Israel, including hundreds of those serving lengthy prison terms. The framework agreed upon by Hamas appeared to be distinct from Witkoff’s proposal that Israel had previously approved.

Witkoff, though, said no agreement was made and that their story amounts to a letdown for him:

Witkoff responded to the claims on Monday, rejecting the notion that Hamas had accepted the offer for a hostage deal and a ceasefire in Gaza.

“What I’ve heard so far from Hamas has been disappointing and completely unacceptable,” he told Walla. He affirmed that Israel has agreed to his offer for a deal that includes releasing half of the living hostages and half of the deal.

“I agreed to lead these negotiations,” Witkoff emphasized, “There is a deal on the table, and Hamas needs to accept it,” adding that the ceasefire “will lead to meaningful negotiations to find a path to a permanent ceasefire.”

And one source even says that Hamas doesn’t want any agreement:

No responsible government could accept the Hamas ceasefire proposal, an anonymous Israeli official said, rejecting the assertion that the deal matched one proposed by Witkoff, adding that Hamas is not interested in a deal.

Israel says that another Hamas deal was not worth the time it took to make it:

Earlier on Monday, Israel said it rejected a Hamas-crafted proposal for the immediate release of five hostages, which was formulated by Hamas and passed on through direct backchannel communications to the US, which then presented the plan to Jerusalem.

“[The proposal is] very far away from the outline that we are willing to negotiate on,” an Israeli official told The Jerusalem Post.

The US was non-committal on this offer:

Notably, the US didn’t say whether it supported the proposal or not.

The proposal included the release of five living hostages in return for the following: IDF withdrawing to its positions in Gaza from two months ago, allowing humanitarian aid into all areas of Gaza, continued talks for the release of remaining living and dead hostages, and what was described as “some kind of American recognition of Hamas.”

One thing to note is no deal where Israel leaves a part of Gaza will be agreed to. Not one.

Hamas Is Falling Apart

We read in an article from World Israel News that Hamas is in seriously bad shape:

The Hamas terrorist organization is facing a severe financial crisis, one which is likely to worsen as aid transfers to the Gaza Strip are replaced with a distribution mechanism that circumvents the Islamist terror group, the IDF claims.

The terrorist group appears to have recruited replacements for their army:

According to a report published by the Israeli news site Walla on Monday morning, the IDF estimates that Hamas currently has 40,000 terrorists under arms in the Gaza Strip – roughly the same number as before the October 7 invasion of Israel and subsequent Gaza war.

The problem is recruiting and training them are two different things:

However, the Hamas military wing now relies heavily on inexperienced, raw recruits, many of them teenagers, who replaced the estimated 20,000 Hamas terrorists killed over the past roughly 20 months of fighting.

The ground offensive by the IDF is straining Hamas’ finances:

As Hamas gears up for the expected IDF ground campaign, which is aimed at capturing and holding the entire Gaza Strip, the terrorist group not only struggles to maintain its operational capabilities with a force of poorly trained new volunteers, but it is also increasingly strapped for cash, leaving recruits often going unpaid.

Even when payments are made, the IDF says, Hamas has had to cut back on the wages paid to terrorists, from 1,200 shekels ($336) per month to just 900 ($252).

Hamas still have some military weapons left, but nothing like did before the war:

The IDF believes that Hamas still has several hundred rockets in its arsenal, down from as many as 15,000 on the eve of the war.

And the Gazans themselves are hindering Hamas:

In recent months, the terror group has carried out few rocket attacks, holding its remaining projectiles in reserve, in part due to the increasing pressure from Gaza civilians, who have begun to bar Hamas from operating near tent cities for fear of IDF retaliation.

Getting back to the funding, it’s no wonder Hamas wants to keep control of the humanitarian aid:

Hamas has in the past benefited greatly from humanitarian aid transfers to the Gaza Strip – seizing the incoming goods which it then sells to Gazans in order to fund its operations.

However, with the Gaza Humanitarian Fund set to begin handling some aid distribution in Gaza on Monday – despite the resignation of its CEO – the IDF predicts that the pressure on Hamas will intensify, with the Islamist group losing one of its key sources of funding.

Hamas still has financial means:

The terror group does maintain other revenue streams, including overseas real estate rentals, based on the Airbnb model.

Overall the military noose around their neck is tightening. They could get desperate to make a deal to give them time to regroup, but they aren’t going to get the deals they had even a month ago. In short they are close to being eliminated as a functioning terrorist group. We need to pray that Hamas isn’t given a chance to revive themselves and pray for Israel’s leaders to not bow to international and internal pressures to help that as well. Pray that the IDF will rescue the hostages and take away the last piece of leverage Hamas has. Or that God will supernaturally rescue them Himself.