7/5/2024–|Last updated: 5/7/202405:16 AM (Mecca time)
Reuters quoted an American official as saying that it does not appear that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the war council are dealing with the final phase of negotiations in good faith.
For his part, John Kirby, coordinator of strategic communications at the US National Security Council at the White House, said that Washington is currently studying the response of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) to the proposed deal and is discussing it with its partners in the region.
Kirby considered that reaching an agreement was the “best result ever” for the detainees and the Palestinian people, he said, but he refused to go into the details of the proposed agreement.
In turn, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that President Joe Biden’s administration is aware of Hamas’ response to the detainees deal proposal and will consult its partners in the region regarding it in the coming hours.
He added – in a press conference – that the discussion will be with Egypt, Qatar and Israel, and that CIA Director William Burns is in the region “to work on this matter.”
Earlier yesterday, Monday, the Hamas movement said that the head of its political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, made a phone call with the Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, and with the Director of Egyptian Intelligence, Abbas Kamel, and informed them of the movement’s approval of the proposed ceasefire agreement.
Khalil Al-Hayya, deputy head of the Hamas movement in Gaza, said – during an interview with Tel Aviv Tribune – that the proposal presented by the mediators to the movement includes three stages, and includes a complete withdrawal of the occupation forces from Gaza, the return of the displaced, and an exchange of prisoners.