U.S. Environmental Safety CompanyA senior Hamas official informed the BBC that the group wouldn’t participate in oblique talks on a Gaza ceasefire and hostage launch deal attributable to resume in Doha on Thursday.
The official mentioned the Palestinian armed teams needed to develop a street map for implementing the settlement and “is not going to negotiate for the sake of negotiation to supply cowl for Israel to proceed the warfare.”
He reiterated that the street map must be based mostly on the proposed deal outlined by US President Joe Biden on the finish of Might, and accused Israel of including “new circumstances”.
Israel’s prime minister denies doing so and says Hamas has been the one demanding change.
The talks are anticipated to happen even with out Hamas, as U.S., Egyptian and Qatari mediators say they will use them to develop a plan to resolve remaining points.
They suffered a number of setbacks final month and have been suspended because the assassination of Hamas political chief and chief negotiator Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
The US hopes that finalizing the deal will stop Iran from retaliating for assassinations in opposition to Israel (Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement) and keep away from regional battle.
On October 7, an unprecedented assault occurred in southern Israel, killing about 1,200 folks and taking 251 different folks hostage. The Israeli navy launched an operation to destroy Hamas in Gaza.
Since then, greater than 39,960 folks have been killed in Gaza, based on the Hamas-run Gaza Well being Ministry.
Final week, the leaders of america, Egypt and Qatar issued a joint assertion calling on Israel and Hamas to renew discussions on an emergency settlement to free the folks of Gaza and the remaining 111 hostages, 39 of whom are presumed hostages.
They mentioned the framework settlement “is now on the desk and solely the implementation particulars stay to be finalized”, including that they have been ready to place ahead a transitional proposal to beat variations if obligatory.
Israel responded by saying it could ship a negotiating workforce to Thursday’s talks. However Hamas – listed as a terrorist group by Israel, Britain and others – Mediators are asked to come up with a plan based on negotiations a month and a half ago, rather than any new round of negotiations.
On Wednesday, a senior Hamas official confirmed that its representatives wouldn’t attend the assembly, though lots of them are based mostly within the Qatari capital.
“We would like a street map to implement the agreements we reached below President Biden’s ceasefire plan and the Safety Council decision guaranteeing the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, notably from the Philadelphia Hall [running along the border with Egypt]and permit the unfettered return of displaced individuals to northern Gaza and permit the movement of humanitarian help,” he informed the BBC.
“It was Israel that added new circumstances and violated earlier agreements,” he added.
Phase One deal outlined by Mr. Biden on May 31 and was endorsed by the United Nations Safety Council as together with a six-week “common and full ceasefire”, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from densely populated areas of Gaza, and the change of some hostages – together with ladies, the aged and the sick and wounded. .
The second part will contain the discharge of all different residing hostages and “a everlasting finish to hostilities”. The third activity is the launch of a significant reconstruction venture in Gaza and the return of the stays of the lifeless hostages.
ReutersTuesday, The New York Times reports that unpublished documents show that Israel conveyed a list of five new conditions in a July 27 letter.which enhances the rules set out on Might 27 and set out by Mr. Biden days later.
The Might proposal allegedly spoke of “the withdrawal of Israeli forces eastward, away from densely populated areas alongside the borders of all areas of the Gaza Strip,” however the July letter included a map indicating that Israel would proceed to manage the Philadelphia hall .
The letter additionally added a stipulation that an agreed mechanism must be established to make sure that solely unarmed civilians are allowed to return to northern Gaza by means of the Israeli-controlled Nezarim hall, which might successfully The territory was divided into two.
In response to this report, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issued a statement calling accusations that he added new conditions “false.”describing it as a “obligatory clarification.”
“Prime Minister Netanyahu’s July 27 letter doesn’t suggest further circumstances and positively doesn’t contradict or undermine the Might 27 proposal. In actual fact, Hamas calls for that the Might 27 proposal be topic to 29 amendments, however the Prime Minister refused to take action,” it added, with out offering particulars on Hamas’s calls for.
Late Tuesday, President Biden acknowledged that negotiations have been “getting robust” however vowed he “will not hand over.”
He additionally mentioned he believed a deal would assist keep away from the potential for Iran, Hamas’ important backer, retaliating in opposition to Israel for the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh.
Requested by a reporter if Iran “may… cease taking actions if a ceasefire was attainable,” he responded: “That is my expectation, however we’ll see.”
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement within the killing of the Hamas chief and warned Iran it could “pay a heavy worth for any act of aggression”. Iran has ignored Western requires restraint and insisted that “a punitive response in opposition to aggressors is a reliable proper”.
Haniyeh is succeeded by Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’ chief in Gaza and one of many masterminds behind the October 7 assault. Netanyahu mentioned on Monday that Sinwar “was and stays the one impediment to the hostage settlement.”
