The Origin of the May 6 Announcement
On May 6, 2024, Hamas publicly declared that it had endorsed a ceasefire framework. However, this declaration did not represent an acceptance of an Israeli plan. According to reporting from the Jewish Virtual Library, the text accepted by the militant organization was presented by Egyptian and Qatari intermediaries following months of negotiations, coinciding with the beginning of Israeli operations aimed at targeting Hamas battalions in Rafah.
Divergence from the Israeli Framework
Far from approving an arrangement Israel had previously sanctioned, Hamas endorsed a substantially altered document. As reported by The Jerusalem Post, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized that the proposal Hamas claimed to embrace was “far from meeting our requirements.” Netanyahu further noted that the decision by Hamas to advance a revised framework was intended to halt the entry of the Israel Defense Forces into Rafah, pointing out that this effort had failed.
Reporting published by Axios showed that Israeli leaders were surprised by the declaration because mediators did not provide the response text to Israel until roughly an hour after Hamas issued its public statement. Upon reviewing the draft, Israeli officials discovered that it contained numerous new provisions that were absent from the framework Israel had accepted ten days earlier. One Israeli official remarked that the document resembled a completely new proposal rather than an approval of previously negotiated terms.
Mediator Dynamics and the U.S. Assessment
The discussions leading to the announcement took place over several days in Cairo and Doha between Hamas figures and regional mediators. According to Axios, two senior Israeli officials stated that Egyptian mediators had provided Hamas with an uncoordinated text over the weekend without consulting Israel. This led Israeli officials to feel that mediators had drafted an alternative deal without sufficient transparency.
As noted in Axios, a senior United States official clarified that the Biden administration viewed the Hamas statement as a counter-proposal rather than an agreement to Israel’s existing submission. That official noted that Israel had negotiated in good faith and had previously offered the most forward-leaning terms in the negotiation process.
Israel had consistently stated that it would not commit to ending the war as part of a hostage deal and that once implemented it would resume fighting in Gaza until Hamas is defeated. According to Axios, the Israeli war cabinet stated that it would send a delegation to Cairo for talks with the Egyptian and Qatari mediators to discuss the new proposal.