‘Blind bias’: Hamas tells US to ‘exert real pressure’ on Israel
Hamas’s lead negotiator has urged the US to press Israel for a truce in Gaza.
“If the US administration and its President Biden really want to reach a ceasefire and complete a prisoner exchange deal, they must abandon their blind bias towards the Zionist occupation and exert real pressure on Netanyahu and his government,” Qatar-based Khalil al-Hayya said in a statement.
He said Hamas still supports a proposal backed by Biden and a UN Security Council resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza.
“We confirm our adherence to what was agreed upon after President Biden-backed proposal at the end of May, and UN Security Council Resolution No 2735, which the movement agreed to on July 2,” al-Hayya said.
“We warn against falling into the trap of Netanyahu … who uses negotiations to prolong the aggression against our people.”
Hamas releases video of killed American-Israeli captive
Hamas released a video of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an Israeli-American man who was held captive in the Gaza Strip for the duration of Israel’s war on the enclave.
His body was recovered along with the bodies of five other captives on September 1 from a tunnel in southern Gaza. Senior Hamas official Izzat al-Risheq said at the time the six captives were killed in Israeli air strikes. The Israeli military says they were shot dead.
In the video marking some of his final words, Goldberg-Polin said Israel “has been trying to bomb me nonstop”.
“I am asking you, Mr President Joe Biden and Antony Blinken and all my fellow Americans, citizens – to do everything you can stop the war, stop this madness, and to bring me home now,” he said.
‘Nothing is negotiated until everything is negotiated’
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby says the Biden administration believes an Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal is 90 percent agreed on.
“You call that optimistic. I call that accurate. That’s how close we believe we are. That’s where we have gotten to. The basic framework of the deal has been agreed to,” Kirby said.
“What we’re talking about now is the implementing details and specifically the exchange of prisoners. And now that calculus is different because of what happened over the weekend,” he said, referring to the recovery of the bodies of six captives from Gaza by Israeli forces.
But he added: “Nothing is negotiated until everything is negotiated, and the things that are still in play right now are very, very detailed … issues and that’s when things get difficult.”
Netanyahu has ‘the upper hand’ in Gaza truce talks with US
Israel continues to sidestep a truce deal with Hamas by changing the terms of an agreement, analysts say.
“We see time and again that Israel agrees to certain terms. It doesn’t say no, it agrees to certain terms but then says, ‘yes, but under those conditions’,” said Shira Efron, a policy adviser at the US-based Israel Policy Forum.
“These public statements that come out after what seems to be an agreement … basically derail the agreement,” Efron said.
Randa Slim, a senior fellow at the US-based Middle East Institute research centre, said she saw the talks as being between the US and Netanyahu, and “in this bilateral negotiation, I see Netanyahu having the upper hand”.
