The movement's statement came hours after US President Donald Trump called on Hamas to "immediately" release all 20 living Israeli captives, vowing that "things will change quickly." Trump tweeted on his Truth Social platform: "I am telling Hamas to return all 20 hostages immediately, not two, five, or seven, and things will change quickly, and it will end (referring to the war)."
The movement added in a statement: "Hamas is still awaiting the Zionist enemy's response to the proposal presented by mediators to the movement on August 18, which was approved by the movement and the Palestinian factions."
She continued: "We affirm our readiness for a comprehensive deal under which all enemy prisoners held by the resistance will be released in exchange for an agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners held by the occupation, as part of an agreement that ends the war on Gaza, leads to the withdrawal of all occupation forces from the entire Strip, opens the crossings to allow the entry of all necessary supplies into the Strip, and begins the reconstruction process."
The movement affirmed its "approval of the formation of an independent national administration of technocrats to manage all the affairs of the Gaza Strip and assume its responsibilities immediately in all areas."
In contrast, Israel announced on Wednesday its refusal to end the war through a comprehensive deal with Hamas, affirming its intention to continue its aggression against the Gaza Strip unless the movement agrees to its terms, including its security control over the Strip.
This came in a series of statements by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and officials in his government, including Defense Minister Yisrael Katz, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Following the movement's statement, Netanyahu's office claimed that "this is just another Hamas maneuver, nothing new," adding, "The war can end immediately under the conditions set by the security cabinet."
These conditions, according to Netanyahu's office, include "the release of all prisoners, the disarmament of Hamas, the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, Israeli security control over the Strip, and the formation of an alternative civilian government."
"These conditions alone will prevent Hamas from rearming and repeating the October 7 massacre, time after time, as it promised," he said.
For his part, Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz claimed in a statement from his office that "Hamas continues to deceive and repeat empty words, but it will soon realize that it is forced to choose between two options."
Katz added, "Accepting Israel's conditions for ending the war, the most important of which is the release of all the abductees and the dismantling of its weapons, or Gaza City will turn into a copy of Rafah (south) and Beit Hanoun (north)." He concluded by saying, "The Israeli army is fully prepared."
In the same vein, extremist National Security Minister Ben-Gvir said, "In order not to have to respond to Hamas's hollow statements, there must be no Hamas."
He continued in a statement: "This must be the only response to these people... the choice between complete surrender with complete disarmament, voluntary emigration from the Strip, and the immediate return of all kidnapped people - without any compensation such as the release of thousands of Sinwaris (referring to the head of Hamas's political bureau in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar) from prisons, or your complete destruction."
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Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said on the X platform, "The Israeli government is not obligated to accept Hamas's conditions, but is obligated to return to negotiations immediately and seek a deal." He continued, "It is impossible for us not to even try to bring our kidnapped soldiers home."
In another statement, the movement said on Wednesday that the Israeli occupation army has been continuing its aggression against Gaza City, home to nearly one million Palestinians, for more than 20 days, by intensifying the systematic destruction of residential neighborhoods and bombing homes and tents over the heads of their residents.
This comes, according to a statement by the movement, as part of Israel's plan to occupy all of Gaza City, which Tel Aviv declared last Friday a "dangerous combat zone," after launching its military operation in the city on August 13. During that period, the Israeli army detonated more than 100 booby-trapped robots in residential neighborhoods in Gaza City, according to a statement by the government media office in the Strip issued Wednesday. It also carried out more than 70 direct airstrikes using warplanes, resulting in the deaths of 1,100 Palestinians and the injury of 6,008 others, according to the same statement.
Hamas said: "The criminal Zionist occupation army has continued its barbaric aggression on Gaza City for more than twenty days, escalating the systematic destruction of residential neighborhoods and bombing homes and tents over the heads of their residents."
She added, "The latest of these crimes was the brutal, bloody targeting of the Al-Jarisi family home north of the city, which resulted in the deaths of at least ten members of the family, in a recurring pattern of horrific war crimes being committed in full view of the world."
The movement continued, "The genocide against our people is being completed by the tightening of the suffocating siege, the systematic starvation of civilians, and the deliberate targeting of what remains of the medical sector, in blatant defiance of international and humanitarian laws."
Hamas called on the international community and the United Nations to "take urgent action to halt the genocide and displacement that the Netanyahu government is intent on perpetrating, and to prevent it from proceeding with its plans that threaten international peace and security and undermine the stability of the region and the world."
Tel Aviv estimates there are 48 Israeli prisoners in Gaza, 20 of whom are still alive. Meanwhile, more than 10,800 Palestinians are languishing in its prisons, suffering torture, starvation, and medical neglect. Many of them have been killed, according to Palestinian and Israeli human rights and media reports.
On August 18, Hamas agreed to a proposal by mediators for a partial ceasefire and prisoner exchange in Gaza. However, Israel did not respond to the mediators, despite the agreement's terms being identical to an earlier proposal put forward by US envoy Steve Witkoff, which Tel Aviv had accepted.
Instead, Netanyahu is pushing to occupy Gaza City under the pretext of releasing prisoners and defeating Hamas, amidst significant skepticism about the feasibility of this from opponents and former officials, and the Israeli military's assertion that the operation would pose a threat to the lives of the prisoners.
With American support, Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza since October 7, 2023, leaving 63,746 martyrs and 161,245 wounded, most of them children and women, thousands missing, hundreds of thousands displaced, and a famine that has killed 367 Palestinians, including 131 children,
