The group said it wants a truce plan based on US President Joe Biden’s May 31 ceasefire proposal.
Hamas asked mediators to present a plan based on previous truce talks rather than trying to find a new ceasefire agreement in Gaza, days before negotiations proposed by the United States, Egypt and Qatar.
In a statement published on its official Telegram channel, the group said it wants a plan “based on [US President Joe] Biden’s ceasefire proposal on May 31, the framework established by mediators Qatar and Egypt on May 6, and UN Security Council Resolution 2735.”
The May 6 proposal, which Hamas previously agreed to and Israel rejected, also guarantees the release of Israeli prisoners in Gaza, as well as an unspecified number of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
The Hamas statement on Sunday added that “mediators should enforce this [May 6 proposal] about the occupation [Israel] instead of pursuing new rounds of negotiations or new proposals that would provide cover for the occupation’s aggression and give it more time to continue its genocide against our people.”
Reporting from Amman, Jordan, Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut said Israeli media outlets are interpreting Hamas’ statement as a complete rejection of ceasefire negotiations.
“But your [Hamas] statement did not say that. They are just calling on the mediators to put the original proposal they agreed to on the table,” she said.
August 15th lectures
Last week, the leaders of the US, Egypt and Qatar called on Israel and Hamas to meet for talks on August 15 in Cairo or Doha to finalize a ceasefire in Gaza and a release agreement for captives.
Hamas spokesman Jihad Taha said on Saturday that the group’s leadership is “studying” inviting these ceasefire talks.
Taha said that “the one obstructing the success of the latest proposal is the Israeli occupation” and stressed that “filling the remaining gaps in the ceasefire agreement involves exerting real pressure on the Israeli side, which was, and still is, practice a policy of placing obstacles in the way of the success of any endeavors and endeavors leading to the end of aggression.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu previously said he would not agree to any agreement that stipulated an end to Israel’s war in Gaza without the total defeat of Hamas. But Israel said it would send negotiators to participate in the ceasefire meeting on August 15.
If talks take place, it will also mark the first time that Hamas has begun talks with Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar in charge following Israel’s assassination of Ismail Haniyeh.
Meanwhile, Israel’s attacks on Gaza continue to intensify.
An Israeli airstrike on the al-Tabin School complex in Gaza City, which houses displaced Palestinian families, killed approximately 100 people on Saturday.
“Every time there is some kind of movement in these [ceasefire] negotiations, there is a large-scale attack in Gaza and this completely makes the talks impossible”, highlighted Al Jazeera’s Salhut.
Hamas said that Israel carrying out the “massacre at al-Tabin school” is further “proof that it only wants to increase its aggression”.
But the group added that despite this attack, it will continue to adhere to the proposal presented by the mediators to which it had previously agreed.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
