Chairman of the State Information Services, Diaa Rashwan, warned on Wednesday of “opening hell doors in the region” if Hamas rejects the controversial Gaza “peace” plan backed by US President Donald Trump. Rashwan said the Palestinian movement is seriously reviewing the plan and may accept it with reservations.
Trump’s plan proposes a 20-point framework to end the war in Gaza. It includes an internationally administered transitional authority, dubbed the “Board of Peace”, chaired by Trump and involving global figures like former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The plan promises a conditional ceasefire, partial Israeli withdrawal, and a prisoner exchange: Hamas would release all Israeli captives, both dead and alive, within 72 hours, and Israel would release nearly 2,000 Palestinian detainees.
The proposal also demands full disarmament of Gaza, safe exit corridors for Hamas leaders who lay down their arms, and a UN-supervised reconstruction plan. Those who pledge peaceful coexistence would not face prosecution.
Despite Rashwan’s remarks, senior Hamas officials told Al Manassa the group opposes any international administration of Gaza. One official said Egyptian and Qatari mediators are pushing Hamas to consider the plan, but the movement finds its current form “unacceptable.”
Another said Hamas supports a nonpartisan Palestinian technocratic administration, as outlined in Egypt’s previous initiative. “Hamas is willing to relinquish control of Gaza under a broader political agreement,” the official said.
On the ground, Israeli attacks continued with deadly force. The Israeli army claimed full control over the western half of the Netzarim Corridor, and tightened its siege on Gaza City. Defense Minister Israel Katz declared that anyone remaining in northern Gaza would be treated as a “terrorist or terrorist sympathizer.”
Israeli drone and artillery strikes on Thursday killed at least seven Palestinians and wounded more than 20, according to medical sources cited by Palestinian news agency WAFA.
In Deir Al-Balah, a drone strike on a displacement camp killed three and injured 13, just on Thursday. In Gaza City’s Al-Rimal district, a child was killed. Another strike wounded eight people in a tent sheltering displaced civilians inside the Al-Aqsa University compound in Khan Younis, WAFA reported.
Israeli forces also detonated four booby-trapped vehicles in Gaza City’s Sabra and Tel Al-Hawa neighborhoods, and shelled eastern Gaza City and areas east of the Al-Maghazi refugee camp.
