Early reports are signaling that Hamas, along with the Gaza terrorist group Islamic Jihad, are proposing a cessation of hostilities in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners who were initially released in the prisoner exchange that freed kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011. A number of the men were rearrested during Israel's operation to find the men who abducted and killed three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank last month.
The Times of Israel reports some of the other demands:
[Hamas also] demands that all crossings to the Gaza Strip be opened, and that the Rafah crossing to Egypt be secured by UN forces. It calls for an airport to be established in the Strip, that fishing areas be expanded, and that Israeli aircraft alter their flight routes such that none fly over the coastal enclave.The Israeli site Arutz Sheva adds:
There is no official confirmation of the offer and it is being greeted with skepticism, as more of a trial balloon than an actual offer.It seems fair to say that few of these demands will be taken seriously by Israel. Let's have a look at them.
Comment: Israel will get away with rejecting this proposal because it is 'unacceptable'. Yet when Hamas rejects a proposal, it's because it doesn't want peace. According to Ma'ariv (Hebrew), courtesy of MondoWeiss, these are the conditions: