Hezbollah says Gaza ceasefire plan 'full of dangers'

Naim Qassem, the leader of the Hamas-aligned militant group, suggested Israel would use the plan as pretext to take over the land and strip Palestinians of their self-determination, but said the decision of whether to accept it was ultimately Hamas's.

"In fact, this plan is a plan full of dangers," Qassem said in a speech commemorating two Hezbollah commanders killed during the group's devastating war with Israel about a year ago.

"It is Israel's project, which it seeks to achieve through politics after failing to achieve it through military action, aggression, genocide and famine," he added.

The warning came after Hamas on Friday gave a positive response to US President Donald Trump's proposal to free the hostages it holds in Gaza and end the nearly two-year war there.

The Trump plan, which has been endorsed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, also demands the disarmament of Hamas and its exclusion from Gaza's future governance -- issues the group did not directly address in its official response.

Qassem said he would not "interfere in the discussion of the details" of Trump's plan, as "ultimately, the Palestinian resistance, Hamas, and all the factions are the ones discussing and deciding what they see fit".

He insisted, however, that "we must confront the Greater Israel project" -- a reference to a biblical interpretation of Israel's territory that encompasses not only the present-day Palestinian territories of Gaza and the occupied West Bank, but also parts of modern Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

Some ultra-nationalist Israelis have called for these territories to be occupied.

In August, Netanyahu drew condemnations from Arab states after he appeared to express support for the notion of a Greater Israel in a television interview.

Qassem said Saturday that it was up to every person in the region to resist this idea, as "the project will reach him sooner or later, according to Israel's planning".

Immediately after Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the Gaza war, Hezbollah began launching rockets at Israel in support of its ally.

Months of exchanges escalated into all-out war in September 2024, before a ceasefire was agreed two months later.

Weakened by the war and still facing regular Israeli strikes despite the truce, Hezbollah is now under internal and international pressure to hand over its weapons, with the Lebanese army having drawn up a plan to disarm it.