Hamas hails Hezbollah ceasefire, calls for truce in Gaza

(JNS) — Hamas welcomed the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon that went into effect early Wednesday, with the Gaza-based terrorist group saying that it, too, wants a pause to hostilities.

“We have informed mediators in Egypt, Qatar and Turkey that Hamas is ready for a ceasefire agreement and a serious deal to exchange prisoners,” a Hamas official told the AFP news agency.

The Hamas official accused Jerusalem of obstructing an agreement.

The terrorist group welcomed the agreement despite its Iranian-backed ally reneging on its pledge to continue fighting Israel as long as hostilities persist in Gaza.

“Any announcement of a ceasefire is welcome. Hezbollah has stood by our people and made significant sacrifices,” Osama Hamdan, a top Hamas political official in Lebanon, told the Hezbollah-affiliated, Beirut-based Al Mayadeen TV news channel on Tuesday, hours before the Israeli Security Cabinet voted to approve the ceasefire deal.

Channel 12 quoted a Hamas source as saying, “We will not stop the fire even when Hezbollah does so.”

While Hamas rocket fire has significantly decreased since the early days of the war nearly 14 months ago as the IDF has severely degraded the terrorist group’s capabilities, it still carries out small, sporadic launches.

Hezbollah has launched some 16,000 rockets, missiles and drones at Israel since joining the war in support of Hamas on Oct. 8, 2023, a day after the Gaza-based terror organization’s massacre in the northwestern Negev.

Nearly 70,000 residents of northern Israel have been internally displaced due to the cross-border attacks from Lebanon. During “Operation Northern Arrows,” 45 Israeli civilians and 79 IDF soldiers were killed, according to the most recent data from the Alma Research and Education Center, which monitors the northern fronts.

Some 1,200 people were killed in the Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, with 101 hostages remaining in Gaza, both alive and deceased, including 97 kidnapped in the attack.