Israeli soldiers operate at the Shajaiya district of Gaza city amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian terror group Hamas, in the Gaza Strip, Dec. 8, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Yossi Zeliger

The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas has preemptively rejected Israel’s latest proposal for a hostage-ceasefire deal to halt fighting in Gaza, according to a new report, in what a senior Israeli official called “bizarre” messaging since “nobody has read” the terms yet.

The perplexed Israeli official told Reuters that the proposal was expected to go out “in the coming hours” and that Hamas’ rejection did not make sense since there was no way the terrorist group could know for sure what was in the deal.

“The messages from Hamas are bizarre because we haven’t sent it yet, nobody has read it yet,” the official said. “Even the negotiators haven’t got it yet. They will read it before transferring it to Hamas for their reaction.”

Israel is seeking to change a plan for a Gaza truce to say that displaced Palestinians who fled south during the war should be screened as they return to the enclave’s north when the ceasefire begins, Reuters reported, citing Israeli, Palestinian, and Egyptian sources.

Hamas, which rules Gaza, had demanded for a ceasefire to include the unrestricted return of Palestinians to northern Gaza. However, Israel has been reluctant to green-light such an idea, fearing that Hamas terrorists would infiltrate the areas of the enclave where civilians return.

One reason for Israel’s concern is Hamas’ widely recognized military strategy of embedding its terrorists within Gaza’s civilian population and commandeering civilian facilities like hospitals, schools, and mosques to run operations and direct attacks.

An unnamed Western official told Reuters that Israeli negotiators “want a vetting mechanism for civilian populations returning to the north of Gaza, where they fear these populations could support” Hamas fighters who remain entrenched there.

The vast majority of Palestinians in Gaza, as well as the West Bank, still support Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel that started the ongoing war, and they would prefer a “day after” scenario in which Hamas remains in control of Gaza rather than the Palestinian Authority, which governs in the West Bank, or other Arab countries, according to recent Palestinian polling. The same polling found that, when asked about support for Palestinian political parties and movements, a plurality chose Hamas.

Israel and Hamas are in ongoing negotiations — mediated by Qatar, Egypt, and the US — for a potential ceasefire deal that would halt fighting in Gaza and see the release of at least some of the 111 hostages still held in Gaza.

Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists murdered 1,200 people and kidnapped over 250 others during their Oct. 7 rampage across southern Israel. In response, Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’ military and governing capabilities.

Over 100 of the hostages were released as part of a temporary truce in November. Others have been freed during Israeli rescue operations, some dead and others alive. Dozens of the hostages still held in Gaza are presumed to be dead.

On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during his speech to a joint session of the US Congress in Washington, DC that Israel was engaged “in intense efforts” to secure the release of the remaining hostages.