The Hamas terrorist organization played the mainstream media on Monday by claiming that they accepted the ceasefire agreement offered by Israel.
The claim instantly went viral on social media and dominated breaking news headlines across the media landscape as the war in Gaza enters its seventh month.
Israeli officials quickly came out and disputed Hamas’ claims, noting that the Palestinian Islamic terror group agreed to things that were never offered by Israel.
Hamas agreed to a deal that it came up with Egypt that did not include any discussion with Israeli officials, The Times Of Israel reported.
Israeli officials said that Hamas lied in an effort to control the media narrative and to falsely portray Israel as the side that is refusing to negotiate even though Israel has made highly generous offers, including releasing dozens of convicted Palestinian terrorists and criminals for each hostage released by Hamas.
Israel said that proposal that Hamas accepted was “far reaching” and could never be accepted.
The White House said that they were looking over the bogus offer that Hamas accepted but would not give further comment.
Israeli officials, media figures, and advocates pushed back on news reports that falsely conveyed the situation.
“Let us all be very clear on what is happening right now: Hamas has not agreed to any known proposal for a ceasefire,” said Jerusalem Post editor-in-chief Avi Mayer. “Its announcement that it has agreed to ‘a ceasefire’ is meaningless, an obvious ploy and delay tactic meant to prevent the imminent military operation in Rafah.”
Former Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy posted: “It looks like Hamas didn’t agree to ‘the ceasefire.’ It agreed to ‘a ceasefire,’ i.e to a proposal Israel hasn’t agreed to and maybe hasn’t even seen. That’s not how negotiations work, but it is how media manipulation works.”
“This reported Hamas approval looks like textbook deception: approving a deal that isn’t on the table in order to apply pressure on Israel to accept Hamas terms,” said former IDF spokesman Jonathan Conricus.
Other notable responses included:
Sorry, folks. Hamas agreeing to a ceasefire plan than was not approved by Israel is not breaking news.
— Jonathan Schanzer (@JSchanzer) May 6, 2024
Hamas fires from Rafah, then immediately “accepts” a ceasefire that is not the deal that is on the table, secure in the knowledge that Westerners want to be manipulated in this war. The correct policy is to stop this charade and destroy them. https://t.co/Wq8e77ZCbf
— Richard Hanania (@RichardHanania) May 6, 2024
🚨 Breaking: Hamas accepted the ceasefire proposal they negotiated with themselves
— Dr. Eli David (@DrEliDavid) May 6, 2024