US Special Envoy Witkoff has promised a swift end to the Gaza war and claimed that Hamas is ready to lay down its arms. The terrorists themselves cite the creation of a Palestinian state as a prerequisite for this.

The militant Islamist terrorist organization Hamas has responded to statements by US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff that it is fundamentally willing to lay down its weapons. In a statement, it ties this to the condition that an independent Palestinian state be established.

The armed resistance can"only be abandoned through the full restoration of our national rights, which include, first and foremost, the establishment of an independent, fully sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital," the statement reads. It is unclear to what extent they are actually willing to disarm, or whether this is primarily propaganda.

It is unclear what the US plan is supposed to look like.

According to consistent media reports, Witkoff said at a meeting with relatives of Hamas hostages that Hamas, according to its own statements, was ready for demilitarization."We are close to the end of this war," the American said at the meeting, according to a statement from the hostage families' forum."We have a plan to end the war and bring everyone home." There is no concrete information on what this plan might look like.

Until now, the US and other states had primarily attempted to reach an agreement through indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel. The special envoy's statements are an admission that months of efforts to secure the release of the hostages have failed, writes the US news site Axios. Instead of initially negotiating only a ceasefire and the gradual release of the hostages, as has been the case so far, US President Donald Trump is now seeking a comprehensive deal that would end the war and return all remaining hostages at once, it said.

Videos of hostages shock

Hamas and its allied terrorist organization Islamic Jihad had previously released propaganda videos depicting hostages they had kidnapped. One video shows 24-year-old Evjatar David, emaciated to the bone, being forced to dig his"own grave" in a narrow tunnel in the Gaza Strip.

Relatives of the hostages had agreed to the distribution of individual images from the videos. The footage sparked outrage in Israel. At a large rally, participants demanded a deal for the release of all hostages. With an estimated 60,000 participants, it was one of the largest rallies in recent weeks.

Despite Hamas's obvious exploitation of the suffering, the images are likely to increase pressure on the Israeli government to force the release of the hostages instead of continuing the war in the Gaza Strip."End this nightmare that has lasted for 666 days. Sign a comprehensive agreement that returns all 50 hostages and ends the fighting," demanded the forum of the hostages' relatives. At least 20 of the hostages are said to still be alive.

Recognition of Palestinian state back on the agenda

In terms of foreign policy, the pressure on Israel due to its actions in the Gaza Strip is already immense. Several European countries and Canada have recently spoken openly about the possible recognition of a Palestinian state. France plans to take this step in September, and Great Britain is also considering recognition – should Israel fail to take"substantial steps" to improve the situation in the Gaza Strip.

Germany is still holding back, without ruling out later recognition. Almost 150 states worldwide are already doing so, including Spain, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Brazil, as well as China and Russia, both of which have veto powers in the UN Security Council.

The consideration of a Palestinian state—and thus a major step toward a two-state solution in the region—is always linked to the demand to disarm Hamas. Several influential Arab states, including Egypt and Qatar, which mediate between Israel and Hamas, as well as the Arab League and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, have also supported this demand.

Israeli government barely responds to pressure

Despite growing pressure at home and abroad, there is no sign of a change of heart in the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Although Israel has opened the airspace over the Gaza Strip to foreign countries dropping aid, this approach has also been widely criticized. Even countries involved in the operation, such as Germany, are speaking more about the symbolic nature of the aid flights and are calling for direct aid deliveries overland.

In particular, the far-right ministers in Israel are pushing Netanyahu, who relies on the representatives of their factions for his narrow government majority, in the opposite direction of a two-state solution. In response to the recent images of the hostages, Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir demanded that Israel"occupy the entire Gaza Strip today and declare sovereignty over the entire Gaza Strip."

Ben-Gvir did this during a revisit to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, where he prayed provocatively – a clear and deliberate disregard of long-standing agreements that prohibit Jews from praying at the third holiest site for Muslims.