The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has assessed that Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas chief in Gaza Strip is under pressure from his own commanders to accept the ceasefire deal according to a report. Israel and Hamas are currently in dialogue over a ceasefire proposal that Israel has endorsed and the United States has backed. In a speech last month, the US President Joe Biden outlined a proposal that would end the war in Gaza in three stages.
Now, a source has told an international media agency that CIA director Bill Burns has said at a closed-door conference that Sinwar is under increasing pressure from Hamas commanders to accept the ceasefire as pressure from the Hamas commanders is mounting on the terrorist group. In the first stage of the ceasefire proposal deal, there will be a six-week ceasefire and select hostages will be released in lieu of Palestinian prisoners in Israel.
In this truce, the talks for the permanent end of the war and release of all the hostages will start. In the third and final stage the reconstruction of the war-ravaged Gaza will start. Pressure mounting on Hamas for ceasefire deal is increasing at an alarmingly high-level. It is just not the Hamas commanders who are pressurizing Sinwar to accept the deal. The people of Gaza are blaming Hamas for their suffering which triggered the ongoing war by attacking Israel last year.
While Sinwar is not concerned with his mortality, he is facing pressure about being blamed for Palestinian sufferings in Gaza, said Burns as per the source who spoke to the international media agency. Separately, another media agency has also reported that senior Gaza based Hamas leaders have called on external leaders of the group to accept the ceasefire deal. They have cited heavy losses in the war with Israel and dire conditions in Gaza.
While Hamas is far from being eradicated as Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has sworn to at the beginning of the war, the terrorist group has indeed suffered considerable damage. Of the five brigade commanders of the Hamas in Gaza, three have been killed in war according to an Israeli media agency. Separately, the US officials have said that Qatar is ramping up pressure on Hamas to accept the ceasefire deal on the table as per an international media agency. The officials have told that Qatar would expel the Hamas leaders from the country where they run their headquarters if they don’t accept the deal.
The Biden administration has maintained for weeks that Sinwar is the only obstacle to the ceasefire in Gaza. Last month, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the fate of the ceasefire proposal was down to one person. Sinwar is considered to be the architect of the October 7 attack on Israel last year. The Biden administration has maintained the ball is in Hamas court and the groups’ refusal to accept the deal what is preventing the end of the war. Last month, the Blinked said, that the regional and international players should press Hamas if they want peace in Gaza.
“So, my message to governments throughout the region to people throughout the region is If you want a ceasefire press Hamas to say yes. If you want to alleviate the terrible suffering of Palestinians in Gaza, press Hamas to say yes. If you want to put Israelis and Palestinians alike on the path to more durable peace and security press Hamas to say yes. If you want to prevent this conflict from spreading, press Hamas to say yes, Blinken said.
Separately, it has been reported that Sinwar has dubbed dead Palestinians in Gaza as necessary sacrifice to corner Israel internationally. Sinwar has been refusing to accept a ceasefire and has been fueling the war in Gaza. He blocked the ceasefire with an idea that civilian deaths will benefit Hamas and harm Israel military and diplomatically, said an American media agency.
The message reviewed by the newspaper show that Sinwar has shown a cold disregard for human life that he has made clear that he believes Israel has more to lose from the prolong war and civilian deaths than Hamas. In April, the when the three sons of Qatar based Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh were killed in an airstrike, Sinwar said that those and other deaths will infuse life into veins of this nation prompting it to rise to its glory and honor.
