The Islamist group Hamaswhich controls the Gaza Strip and has been engaged in a war against Israel for more than ten months, reiterated on Wednesday that he will not attend a new round of ceasefire negotiations, which was called by the mediators for this Thursday, August 15.
According to the criteria of
We will not enter into negotiations that allow Netanyahu to buy free time
“Hamas will not be part of the upcoming negotiations scheduled for tomorrow, Thursday, either in Cairo or Doha,” Suhail al Hindi, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, told Al Arabi Al Jadeed.
The Palestinian militia Islamic Jihad, which sided with Hamas in its war against Israel, supported the initiative.
“The decision of the resistance is unified and We will not engage in negotiations that allow (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu to buy free time,” “The Islamic Jihad has no choice but to fight against Zionist intransigence,” said a statement from Islamic Jihad, which stressed that it “has no choice but to fight against Zionist intransigence.”
The United States, Egypt and Qatar, which are acting as mediators, demanded on August 8 that Israel and Hamas “resume urgent discussions on Thursday, August 15, in Doha or Cairo.” to close all remaining gaps and begin implementation of the agreement without further delay.”
Israel agreed and said it would send a delegation, but Hamas refused to participate in new negotiations and instead called for compliance with what was agreed on July 2, referring to a draft that is based on principles laid out in May by US President Joe Biden.
The movement demands a clear commitment from the occupation to what was agreed on July 2, according to the clarifications transmitted by the mediators.
“The movement demands a clear commitment from the occupation to what was agreed on July 2 according to the clarifications conveyed by the mediators, and if this happens, the movement is ready to enter into the mechanisms of implementation of the agreement,” Al Hindi reaffirmed.
Netanyahu on Tuesday denied adding any further demands to Biden’s proposal and accused Hamas of demanding 29 changes that Israel has refused to grant.
Despite Hamas’s refusal, The US mediator for the conflict between Lebanon and Israel, Amos Hochstein, announced that the meeting will take place in Doha starting on Thursday and will last for “several days.”
Tension in the Middle East
This happens while The Middle East is on the brink of a regional escalation, which the international community is trying to prevent by means of a ceasefire in Gaza.
Iran and its “Axis of Resistance” – comprising Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, the Shiite group Hezbollah in Lebanon, Houthi rebels in Yemen, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq and other militias in Syria – have vowed to avenge the recent killings of two of its prominent figures.
Hezbollah’s top commander, Fuad Shukr, was killed in an Israeli airstrike outside Beirut on July 31; and hours later, Hamas’s then-political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in an attack in Tehran that Iranian authorities blame on Israel.
Biden on Tuesday expressed hope that a ceasefire in Gaza could deter Iran from attacking Israel, while US mediator Amos Hochstein said Wednesday in Beirut that a truce in Gaza would help slow the escalation between Hezbollah and Israel, which has reached its highest point since the 2006 war.
Al-Hindi said he was certain that “the response from the Axis of Resistance is coming and the negotiations (for a truce) are simply a bid for time” by Israel.
The war broke out on October 7 last year after a Hamas attack on Israel that left some 1,200 dead and 251 kidnapped.
After more than 10 months of escalation, the Israeli offensive in Gaza has left almost 40,000 dead – most of them children and women -, more than 90,000 wounded, 10,000 missing under the rubble and 1.9 million displaced people surviving in an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.
Mediators have been trying for months to achieve a ceasefire that would allow massive humanitarian aid to enter the Palestinian enclave, as well as the release of the 111 hostages that Hamas continues to hold, of whom at least 39 are believed to have died.
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