A senior Palestinian Hamas official said in Beirut on Saturday that negotiations with Israel to reach an agreement on a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of hostages have not led to any progress.
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A plan presented in late May by US President Joe Biden, which he said was proposed by Israel, provides for a six-week ceasefire accompanied by an Israeli withdrawal from densely populated areas of Gaza, the release of some hostages and Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
According to the American site Axios, the American administration presented a “new version” of a draft agreement between Israel and Hamas, including amendments to “certain clauses (…) with the aim of bridging the gap that separates them and reach an agreement.
Osama Hamdan, a senior official in the Beirut-based Palestinian Islamist movement, said his movement had received the latest proposal for a ceasefire agreement on June 24, but that it brought “nothing new.”
“We can say that there is nothing new in the negotiations to stop the Israeli aggression,” he said at a press conference.
The plan presented by Mr. Biden has so far remained a dead letter, with the protagonists sticking to intangible demands.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to continue the war until Hamas is completely defeated and all hostages are released.
Hamas is demanding a permanent ceasefire and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
“We have made it clear, and it is still our position, that without this, all the documents presented are a waste of time and give the occupation more time to carry out genocide against our people, as well as an attempt to the American administration to redeem itself,” Mr. Hamdane said.
According to him, the new American proposal is part of “the various pressures exerted on the movement to accept the Israeli document as it is, without amendment.”
The war in the Gaza Strip was triggered by a Hamas attack on October 7 in Israel that killed 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli data. During the attack, 251 people were kidnapped, 116 of whom are still being held in Gaza, of whom 42 died, according to the army.
In response, Israel launched an offensive on Gaza that has so far killed 37,834 people, mostly civilians, according to data from the Hamas-led Gaza government’s health ministry.
