Hamas said Friday the Palestinian group rejected “new conditions” in a Gaza ceasefire plan the United States presented after two days of talks with Israeli negotiators in Qatar.
As international pressure mounted for a ceasefire after more than 10 months of war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, US President Joe Biden said: “We are closer than we have ever been.”
Egyptian, Qatari and US mediators have been seeking to finalize details of a framework initially outlined by Biden in May, and which he said Israel had proposed.
But months of talks have so far failed to pin down the details of a truce and hostage release deal. The mediators said that the two days of talks in Doha were “serious and constructive”.
In a joint statement, they said the United States had presented a “bridging proposal” that sought to secure a rapid deal at a new round of talks in Cairo next week.
Hamas swiftly announced its opposition to what it called “new conditions” from Israel in the latest plan.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meanwhile called on the mediators to put “pressure” on Hamas “to accept the May 27 principles”, referring to Biden’s framework.
An informed source told AFP that the conditions Hamas objected to included keeping Israeli troops inside Gaza along the territory’s border with Egypt, veto rights for Israel on the Palestinian prisoners to be exchanged for Israeli hostages, and the ability to deport some prisoners rather than send them back to Gaza.
Qatar’s lead mediator, Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani spoke with Iran’s acting foreign minister Ali Bagheri to brief him about the talks, the foreign ministry in Doha said.
“During the call, they reviewed … the latest developments in the joint mediation efforts to end the war on the Strip, and stressed the need for calm and de-escalation in the region,” the Qatari statement said.
The US President is slated to hold a phone call with the Emir of Qatar and the President of Egypt on Friday night about the deal, according to a source with knowledge cited by Axios news website.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to travel to Israel this weekend in a bid to push for a Gaza ceasefire deal as the United States tries to bridge the gaps in talks in the region, the State Department said.
Blinken will leave Saturday and seek to “conclude the agreement for a ceasefire and release of hostages and detainees through the bridging proposal” presented Friday during talks in Doha by the United States, a State Department statement said.
With AFP
