Hamas wants ceasefire based on existing talks
The group has said it asked mediators to present a plan based upon past talks instead of engaging in new negotiations for a ceasefire deal.
In a statement on its official Telegram channel, Hamas said that it wants a plan “based on Biden’s May 31 ceasefire proposal, the framework laid out by mediators Qatar and Egypt on May 6, and UN Security Council Resolution 2735“.
“These have all been met with Israeli rejections and more Israeli massacres. Israel has shown it is not serious about a permanent ceasefire by carrying out crimes against our people,” including its assassination of its leader Ismail Haniyeh, it said.
Hamas also said that Israel carrying out the “al-Tabin school massacre” is further “proof that it only wants to escalate its aggression”. The group added that despite this, it will continue to adhere to the proposal laid out by the mediators and that it had already agreed to previously.
Israeli media read differently into Hamas’s position on talks
Hamas has been accusing the Israelis, specifically PM Benjamin Netanyahu, of adding new conditions to the deal that’s on the table.
Netanyahu says it was Hamas that was adding conditions. But we do know Netanyahu went into the talks months ago with several major non-negotiable conditions.
Every time there’s some sort of movement on these negotiations, there’s a large-scale attack in Gaza and that derails the talks. That’s what Hamas mentioned in this statement as well with the over 100 killed in the school attack.
Hamas is asking the mediators to essentially present the original deal by US President Joe Biden, and Israeli media is reading into this as Hamas rejecting the talks altogether. But the statement did not say that. They are merely calling on mediators – before August 15 – to put the original deal on the table that Hamas and the Israelis had previously said they agreed to.
This is the three-phase plan that was outlined by the Americans on May 31.
We are waiting for implementation mechanisms: Hamas official
Senior Hamas leader Osama Hamdan says the Palestinian group still wants to reach an agreement but will not allow Israel to dictate how the process advances.
“Our position is clear, and we are not waiting for a discussion on new papers and titles,” he told Lebanon’s Al-Manar television.
“There is a document we have agreed on, and we are waiting for the announcement of implementation mechanisms, including the cessation of aggression, its withdrawal, sending aid to the [Gaza] Strip, and launching reconstruction.”
Hamdan said Israel wants to avoid ending the war, adding “We won’t believe Netanyahu has agreed to the deal until he stops committing crimes and withdraws his forces from the Gaza Strip.”
The Hamas official said the group anticipates “an accomplishment once thought impossible” by the Iran-led axis of resistance amid a looming retaliatory attack.
Biden says Gaza ceasefire deal is still possible
The US president told CBS News that he believes a ceasefire in Gaza is “still possible” before the end of his term in the White House.
He made the comments in his first interview since he abandoned his re-election campaign last month.
“The plan I put together, endorsed by the G7, endorsed by the UN Security Council, et cetera, is still viable,” Biden told CBS News. “And I’m working literally every single day – and my whole team – to see to it that it doesn’t escalate into a regional war. But it easily can.”
