Hamas pushes for revival of previous plan amid ceasefire talks

The leaders of the U.S., Egypt, and Qatar, countries mediating the negotiations, have called on Israel and Hamas to resume talks on Thursday regarding a ceasefire in the 10-month-long war and the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners. Negotiators are pushing for the talks to conclude with an agreement.

Israel announced it would send its negotiators to the meeting. Reuters wrote that Hamas initially reported it was analyzing proposals but now suggests it will not participate in the new round of talks.

Hamas "calls on the mediators to present a plan for the implementation of what was presented to the movement and accepted by Hamas on July 2; agreements based on the plan of U.S. President Joe Biden and the U.N. Security Council resolution," said the evening statement from the ruling Palestinian organization in the Gaza Strip.

As emphasized, the mediators "should force the occupant (Israel) to comply with this plan, instead of conducting further talks or presenting new proposals," which only gives Israel time to continue the aggression and "genocide of Palestinians."

The plan presented by Biden at the end of May's three-step ceasefire plan includes, besides a permanent ceasefire, the exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, as well as the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip. So far, negotiations have hit a deadlock, with both sides accusing each other of setting new conditions and blaming each other for the failure of the talks.

Sunday's statement from Hamas is a negotiation tactic aimed at securing better terms of agreement, commented a senior Israeli official quoted by the Times of Israel portal. He added, "If Hamas does not want to come to the negotiation table, we will continue to destroy its forces in the Gaza Strip."

The U.S. sees in the agreement not only a chance to end the war in the Gaza Strip, which has already claimed nearly 40,000 Palestinian lives but also an opportunity to calm tensions in the Middle East broadly. The situation in the region is the toughest it has been in months, with growing concerns about a serious escalation of the conflict between Israel and Iran and its allies, including the Lebanese Hezbollah.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz, citing diplomatic sources, wrote on Sunday that mediators suggested to both sides that if Thursday's talks do not bring a breakthrough, they will be blamed for the failure of the negotiations.

The newspaper noted that the U.S., which has solely blamed Hamas for the impasse in the talks until now, is growing impatient with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's stance and fears that he may yield to his far-right coalition partners, who oppose the agreement. It added that the White House would then publicly accuse him of harming the negotiations, portraying him as partly responsible for the failure of the talks.

On the other hand, Egypt and Qatar, which have so far mostly criticized Israel, have also made it clear that they will explicitly criticize Hamas if it sabotages the negotiations, added "Haaretz".

Source: PAP/WP