“When will Hamas be serious?” asks the Israeli ambassador to France after the delay in the entry into force of the ceasefire

While the entry into force of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was delayed, on Sunday morning, the Israeli ambassador to France accused the Palestinian movement of doing everything “to destroy the possibility of living together.”

“The best way to start a truce is to really want to have a truce”underlined the Israeli Ambassador to France Joshua Zarka, Sunday January 19, while the Israeli army announced a delay in the entry into force of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas, initially planned Sunday at 6:30 a.m. GMT (7:30 a.m. in France). Hamas has not yet submitted the list of hostages to be released during the day, as requested by Israel.

“When is Hamas going to be serious?”he continued. According to him, “Hamas, which initiated this war, has done everything to destroy the possibility of living together”, “keeps the hostages and does not provide the lists”. The Palestinian Islamist movement acknowledged in a statement a delay “in providing the names of hostages to be released”and this “for technical reasons in the field”.

Under the terms of the agreement, hostilities must cease and 33 Israeli hostages must be released, in a first phase spread over six weeks. In exchange, Israel must release 737 Palestinian prisoners, according to the Israeli Ministry of Justice. “What they want is to ensure that the war continues, that we cannot create conditions that will lead to peace with the Palestinians”lamented the diplomat, who assured that he still believed in the entry into force of the ceasefire. “It is a truce which is very difficult to accept, we accepted it in a very clear way”argued Joshua Zarka.