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Hamas has said a ceasefire deal must result in a permanent end to Israel’s war on Gaza, accusing the United States of “merely buying time for Israel to continue its genocide” by proposing an amended accord.
As the Palestinian group revealed details of Israel’s new conditions, it urged the world to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to sign the deal proposed by US President Joe Biden on May 31 and backed by the United Nations Security Council on June 11.
“The Israelis have retreated from issues included in Biden’s proposal. Netanyahu’s talk about agreeing to an updated proposal indicates that the US administration has failed to convince him to accept the previous agreement,” Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan said.
Yesterday US President Biden said Hamas was “backing away” from the deal agreed to by Israel.
“It’s still in play, but you can’t predict,” he said while leaving the Democratic National Convention in Chicago that confirmed vice president Kamala Harris as the Democratic Party’s candidate for November’s elections.
“Israel says they can work it out … Hamas is now backing away.”
Hamas reacted to President Biden’s comments, saying they were “misleading”, stressing that it was eager to reach a deal but the new provisions contradict the earlier framework.
It has doubted the sincerity of the US in brokering ceasefire talks.
By shifting the terms, the US is showing “blind bias” towards Israel and acquiescing to its demands, Hamas said, enabling it to “commit more crimes against defenceless civilians, in pursuit of the goals of exterminating and displacing our people”.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in Tel Aviv on Monday that he had “a very constructive meeting” with Netanyahu, who “confirmed to me that Israel accepts the bridging proposal”.
“This is a decisive moment – probably the best, maybe the last, opportunity to get the [Israeli] hostages home, to get a ceasefire and to put everyone on a better path to enduring peace and security,” Blinken said.
The Israeli military yesterday said it had recovered the bodies of six captives from Khan Younis in southern Gaza. -AlJazeera.com
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