Hamas official says Netanyahu main obstacle to achieving ceasefire
Hamas official Osama Hamdan has told Al Jazeera “everyone understands” now that Netanyahu and his government are not willing to achieve a ceasefire deal.
“The Israelis, in the two-day negotiations, rejected the paper, introduced by the Americans on June 24 based on Biden’s initiative, the Security Council resolution, and also responsible for the Israeli points,” he said.
“They rejected it even after Hamas accepted that. After the two-day negotiations, they stand against the paper and they have new ideas that were not discussed before.
“We have to remember … what the army minister in Israel said, which was the main obstacle to achieving an agreement, is Netanyahu. He was, and is, the obstacle.”
Hamdan said the Israelis declared in the latest round of talks in Qatar that they want the right to come back to fight, a condition he said was unacceptable for Palestinians. “The main purpose of these negotiations is to stop the suffering of the Palestinians,” he told Al Jazeera.
“Even if there was a prisoner exchange, they want to have the right to attack whenever they want. How can any Palestinian accept that?”
Hamdan added that “in Israel, they don’t need to have an excuse to kill Palestinians.” “They want to get rid of the Palestinians. This is why we insist on having a guaranteed ceasefire and a complete withdrawal.”
Families of Israeli captives threaten escalation, demand exchange deal
Families of captives have been protesting for months and held a news conference outside Israel’s Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, accusing Netanyahu of blocking a potential deal. They claimed that Netanyahu was undermining the agreement by introducing new conditions during negotiations.
The families emphasised that this is their final opportunity to save the lives of their children, who have been held in Gaza for more than 10 months. The families are threatening to escalate if a deal is not reached.
On Thursday, an Israeli delegation and mediators began the latest round in months of talks to end the war in Gaza, which has killed at least 40,000 Palestinians.
People demonstrate against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and call for the release of captives in Gaza
Polio outbreak shows need for Gaza ceasefire: CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organisation in the US, has called on the Biden administration to force Israel to end the war in Gaza to allow a polio vaccination campaign to be conducted.
CAIR has previously called on the Biden administration to take measures to prevent the spread of polio in Gaza after the virus was detected in wastewater, as well as the first case of that disease that was detected in a Palestinian child.
The disease has appeared due to Israel’s systematic destruction of the civilian and medical infrastructure in Gaza, CAIR said in a statement. Israel has launched a vaccination campaign for its own military personnel.
“President Biden’s enabling of the systematic destruction of almost all civilian infrastructure in Gaza has resulted in the reappearance of a disease that could be devastating to Palestinian children,” the group’s communications director Ibrahim Hooper said.
