Leader of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), Osama Hamdan, said yesterday, Thursday, that the movement needs a clear Israeli position to accept a ceasefire, while the movement reported that US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s talk about Israeli approval of the latest proposal is insufficient if this is not issued by Israeli officials. .
In an interview with CNN, Hamdan demanded clear Israeli approval of the movement’s conditions for Israel to withdraw from the Gaza Strip, let the Palestinians decide their future for themselves, end the war, and lift the siege.
He also stressed that if Washington acted “positively,” an agreement could be reached, indicating the need for the United States to convince Israel to accept a permanent ceasefire as part of the deal.
Hamdan stressed that the attack of last October 7 was a reaction to the Israeli occupation, and therefore Israel bears responsibility for the fate of the detainees, explaining that “no one has an idea about the number of living prisoners.”
Pressure on Israel
In response to US President Joe Biden’s claim yesterday, Thursday, that “Hamas is now the biggest obstacle to implementing the ceasefire plan and releasing detainees in Gaza,” the movement confirmed that it expressed a positive position on Biden’s speech, while it did not hear from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu anything but continuation. In the war of extermination.
In a statement, the movement called on the Biden administration to put pressure on the occupation government, which it described as “insisting on completing the mission of killing and extermination,” noting that Blinken spoke of Israel’s approval of the latest proposal, at a time when Hamas had not heard this approval from any Israeli official.
The movement said that the Netanyahu government continued to reject any permanent ceasefire, in contradiction to the Security Council resolution and the Biden initiative.
Hamas explained that it agreed to the proposal it received from the mediators on May 5, while Netanyahu responded by attacking Rafah.
Regarding the Security Council resolution, which the movement welcomed, Hamas said that the world had not heard any Israeli welcome or approval of it.
Proposed amendments
Since the movement delivered last Tuesday to the mediators its response to the proposal presented by Biden at the end of last month based on the Israeli War Council plan, which includes three stages of prisoner exchange and a ceasefire, the US administration has accused Hamas of obstructing reaching an agreement and “setting demands that cannot be worked on.”
Hamas had clarified through one of its leaders, in statements to Reuters, that the amendments it requested were “not significant” and included the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, and assurances of Israel’s agreement to end the war, and not to return to fighting after the end of the first phase of the truce.
The movement also had reservations about excluding the Israeli paper for 100 Palestinian prisoners with high sentences that it identifies, in addition to restricting the time period for the release of those with high sentences so that the remaining period of their sentence does not exceed 15 years.
