The German News Agency, quoting a Qatari official, reported that reports circulating in the Israeli media about Qatar’s proposal to expel the leaders of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) from the Gaza Strip, in exchange for a ceasefire, are “wrong.”

According to the agency, the Qatari official confirmed that such a proposal to expel Hamas leaders from Gaza had not been discussed at any time, or with any party since the outbreak of the war on Gaza early last October.

Earlier today, Thursday, Israeli Channel 13 spoke about what it called “Qatari proposals” to end the war on Gaza, and said that one of its provisions included the exit of Hamas leaders from the Gaza Strip, without receiving official confirmation from Israel or Qatar.

Hamas denied proposing a similar Qatari initiative, and the movement’s leader, Osama Hamdan, from Beirut, said, “In principle, there is no initiative of this kind.”

What about the resistance?

He continued, "The people did not leave their land, so what about the resistance that defends the people? Talk about the resistance leaving its land is an illusion, and the idea of disarming the resistance is naive and does not reflect an understanding of the facts of the matter."

Hamdan considered the Hebrew media’s talk about this initiative to be “an operation of deception and misinformation to calm the angry street, especially the families of the prisoners who are watching their sons being killed at the hands of the occupation without (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu paying attention to them.”

The Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, said last Sunday that the ceasefire negotiations in Gaza are ongoing and are going through challenges... and the killing of a senior leader of the Palestinian Hamas movement (Saleh Al-Arouri) could affect them.”

It is noteworthy that Qatar and Egypt, along with the United States, are sponsoring efforts to reach a second temporary truce in Gaza, after the first truce that was reached at the end of last November, which resulted in the release of 105 civilians detained by Hamas, including 81 Israelis, in exchange for Israel's release of 240 male and female prisoners, and 169 Palestinian children.