Mediator Qatar said Hamas gave a “broadly positive” response to a proposed truce deal with Israel, as the Palestinian group reiterated its demand to end the Israeli attack on Gaza.
At a news conference Tuesday with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani described Hamas’s reaction to the proposal as “overall positive,” without providing further information. details.
Blinken said Hamas’ response to the proposal brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States had been shared with Israeli officials.
Blinken is on a whirlwind tour of the Middle East and said he would discuss the response with Israeli officials when he visits the country on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters in Doha on Tuesday, Blinken said the deal was “essential.”
“There is still a lot of work to do. But we continue to believe that an agreement is possible and even essential, and we will continue to work tirelessly to achieve it,” he said.
Hamas said in a statement that its leaders had reviewed “the comprehensive ceasefire agreement…with a positive spirit”, including details on ensuring relief and shelter, reconstruction, lifting of a crippling 17-year-old siege and the completion of the Comprehensive Ceasefire Agreement…with a positive spirit. prisoner exchange process.
Qatar is working with the United States and Egypt to negotiate a truce that would involve a prolonged halt in fighting and the release of hostages held by Hamas.
Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Al Thani said the mediators faced a number of challenges throughout the talks and that events on the ground in Gaza were affecting the course of the negotiations.
“We hope to see it give way very soon,” he said.
Earlier, Blinken met with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
I met Amir Sheikh @TamimBinHamad in Doha to discuss efforts to secure the release of all remaining hostages held by Hamas. We appreciate the partnership and Qatar’s indispensable role in mediation. pic.twitter.com/NYUp4NvPk7
– Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) February 6, 2024
The proposed deal was hammered out more than a week ago by U.S. and Israeli intelligence chiefs in a meeting with Egyptian and Qatari officials.
Hamas has already declared that any agreement must bring a definitive end to the war. Israel has said it will not definitively stop the war until Hamas is destroyed.
Separately, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Hamas’ response to the deal was being considered by all parties involved in the mediation process.
“Hamas’ response was transmitted to Mossad by the Qatari mediator. Its details are being thoroughly evaluated by officials involved in the negotiations,” a statement from Israel’s foreign intelligence agency Mossad, released through the prime minister’s office, said Tuesday.
A 40-day truce?
Sources close to the talks said the truce would last at least 40 days, during which the fighters would release civilians among the remaining hostages they are holding. Other phases would follow, to hand over the soldiers and the bodies of the hostages, in exchange for the release of Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.
The only truce so far, in November, was initially agreed for just four days and extended to last a week. At the time, Hamas released 110 hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Most of the besieged enclave’s 2.3 million residents are displaced, facing severe shortages of food, water, medicine and shelter, with the majority of Gaza now in ruins after nearly four months of Israeli bombing.
Israel launched its military offensive in Gaza after Hamas fighters killed 1,139 people and took around 150 hostages in southern Israel on October 7, according to an Tel Aviv Tribune tally based on official Israeli figures.
At least 27,585 people have been confirmed killed during the Israeli military campaign, and thousands more may be buried under rubble, according to Palestinian health authorities in Gaza.
More than 66,000 other people were injured, according to Palestinian authorities.
In his remarks, Blinken laid out the U.S. vision for the region, emphasizing Israeli integration. He cited continued U.S. efforts to promote normalization deals that critics say marginalize Palestinians and do little to resolve the political problems that caused the conflict.
His visit comes as Israel has said it plans to expand its ground attacks in Gaza, particularly in the southern Rafah governorate, which is teeming with internally displaced Palestinians.
Rafah, on the Egyptian border, is where more than half of Gaza’s population has sought refuge and is now living in increasingly miserable conditions.
United Nations humanitarian observers said Tuesday that Israeli evacuation orders now cover two-thirds of Gaza territory, pushing thousands more people to border areas every day.
Egypt has warned that an Israeli deployment along the border would threaten the peace treaty signed by the two countries more than four decades ago. Egypt fears that an expansion of fighting in the Rafah region could push terrified Palestinian civilians across the border, a scenario Egypt has said it is determined to prevent.
Blinken, who met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo on Tuesday, has repeatedly said Palestinians should not be forced to leave Gaza.
Many have criticized the United States and the Secretary of State himself for not adopting a tougher tone toward Israeli officials, even though they have publicly contradicted American positions on the future of Palestine and the military action and humanitarian aid in Gaza.
Tel Aviv Tribune senior political analyst Marwan Bishara said Blinken and Biden were “a leading party in the conflict.”
“They are the ones who supported Israel’s aggression, financially, militarily and diplomatically,” Bishara said.
The Biden administration must “change its tone” and “impose its will on the Netanyahu government,” he added.
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