The latest cease-fire proposal that seeks to stop the fighting between Israel and Hamas is in jeopardy. The reason shouldn’t be a surprise: The terror group refuses to give up its murderous efforts to drive the Jewish state into the sea.

The White House over the weekend offered a new plan to end the hostilities, at least temporarily. But Hamas officials refused the offer, preferring instead to seek “amendments” that would weaken the deal and ensure the group lived to terrorize another day. Steve Witkoff, the Mideast envoy for President Donald Trump, said the Hamas response “only takes us backward.”

That’s an understatement. The U.S. offer calls on Hamas to release Israeli hostages that it seized during its barbaric Oct. 7 attack while halting the conflict for 60 days. The lull would include “further U.S.-backed negotiations on a permanent end to the war,” The New York Times reported.

But Hamas wants to prolong the conflict unless Israel agrees to its survival. “Hamas has been willing to free the remaining Israeli and foreign captives in Gaza as part of a broader deal to end the war,” the Times notes. “Israel has vowed to continue fighting until Hamas lays down its arms and sends its leaders into exile.”

And who can blame Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu? Agreeing to the conditions that Hamas demands — Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, for one — will ensure only a short-term truce that the terror group will use to re-arm and prepare for its next deadly rampage against innocent Jewish civilians. Meanwhile, the current group of Hamas leaders — those who remain alive, anyway — would remain in charge of post-war Gaza, free to continue their aggression.

This isn’t a recipe for peace. It’s an endorsement of additional conflict.

Hamas officials profess sympathy for the civilians forced to endure the horrors of war. Trump last week acknowledged that the humanitarian strains in Gaza have created a “nasty situation.” Yet the terror group has been responsible for exacerbating the problems in the first place, intentionally provoking war, using civilians as human shields, hiding military targets near schools or residential neighborhoods and looting international aid meant to provide relief.

Hamas terrorists have a clear avenue for permanently ending the war they so gleefully started: Acknowledge Israel’s right to exist, lay down their arms and embrace peace over death, hatred, fanaticism and endless grievance.

— From Tribune News Service