Hamas says it won’t attend Thursday’s ‘last opportunity’ talks for hostage-truce deal
The widely endorsed ceasefire and hostage release deal presented to Israel and Hamas earlier this year is still viable, US President Joe Biden said on Sunday, as Israeli security sources voiced cautious optimism that an agreement could be finalized during talks later this week, despite the Palestinian terror group’s announcement that it would not be sending a delegation.
With negotiations scheduled to resume on Thursday, Biden told CBS during a wide-ranging interview that he believes it is “still possible” for the warring sides to reach a deal that will bring about the release of the 115 hostages held by Hamas and other terror groups in Gaza, and an end to the fighting in the war-ravaged Palestinian enclave.
“The plan I put together, endorsed by the G7, endorsed by the UN Security Council, et cetera, is still viable,” Biden said. “And I’m working literally every single day – and my whole team – to see to it that it doesn’t escalate into a regional war. But it easily can.”
In tandem with the renewed push for a deal between Israel and the Hamas terror group, the United States has been attempting to deter Iran from striking Israel in retaliation for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31, for which Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility.
Hoping to avoid an all-out regional war, US officials were said by Channel 12 to be pushing their Israeli counterparts to finalize the deal as soon as possible.
After the US, Qatar and Egypt said in a joint statement on Friday that a deal needed to be concluded and implemented without further delay, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced on Friday night that Israel would send its negotiators to the August 15 talks “to finalize the details of the implementation of the agreement framework.”
On the other side of the negotiating table, Israeli sources told CNN on Sunday that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar had indicated to Egyptian and Qatari mediators that he was interested in ending the 10-month-long war, sparked by the terror group’s October 7 massacre.
Despite Sinwar’s supposed interest in ending the war, the terror group said on Sunday evening that it did not plan to send negotiators to Thursday’s talks.
It said it had asked mediators to present a plan based upon past negotiations, instead of engaging in new talks for a deal based on amended frameworks.
“The movement calls on the mediators to present a plan to implement what was agreed upon by the movement on July 2, 2024, based on Biden’s vision and the UN Security Council resolution,” Hamas said.
“The mediators should enforce this on the occupation (Israel) instead of pursuing further rounds of negotiations or new proposals that would provide cover for the occupation’s aggression and grant it more time to continue its genocide against our people,” the Hamas statement added.
of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, August 10, 2024. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
The widely endorsed ceasefire and hostage release deal presented to Israel and Hamas earlier this year is still viable, US President Joe Biden said on Sunday, as Israeli security sources voiced cautious optimism that an agreement could be finalized during talks later this week, despite the Palestinian terror group’s announcement that it would not be sending a delegation.
With negotiations scheduled to resume on Thursday, Biden told CBS during a wide-ranging interview that he believes it is “still possible” for the warring sides to reach a deal that will bring about the release of the 115 hostages held by Hamas and other terror groups in Gaza, and an end to the fighting in the war-ravaged Palestinian enclave.
“The plan I put together, endorsed by the G7, endorsed by the UN Security Council, et cetera, is still viable,” Biden said. “And I’m working literally every single day – and my whole team – to see to it that it doesn’t escalate into a regional war. But it easily can.”
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In tandem with the renewed push for a deal between Israel and the Hamas terror group, the United States has been attempting to deter Iran from striking Israel in retaliation for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31, for which Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility.
Hoping to avoid an all-out regional war, US officials were said by Channel 12 to be pushing their Israeli counterparts to finalize the deal as soon as possible.
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After the US, Qatar and Egypt said in a joint statement on Friday that a deal needed to be concluded and implemented without further delay, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced on Friday night that Israel would send its negotiators to the August 15 talks “to finalize the details of the implementation of the agreement framework.”
People walk past posters of Israelis held hostage by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, in Tel Aviv on August 11, 2024. (Oren ZIV / AFP)
On the other side of the negotiating table, Israeli sources told CNN on Sunday that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar had indicated to Egyptian and Qatari mediators that he was interested in ending the 10-month-long war, sparked by the terror group’s October 7 massacre.
Despite Sinwar’s supposed interest in ending the war, the terror group said on Sunday evening that it did not plan to send negotiators to Thursday’s talks.
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It said it had asked mediators to present a plan based upon past negotiations, instead of engaging in new talks for a deal based on amended frameworks.
“The movement calls on the mediators to present a plan to implement what was agreed upon by the movement on July 2, 2024, based on Biden’s vision and the UN Security Council resolution,” Hamas said.
“The mediators should enforce this on the occupation (Israel) instead of pursuing further rounds of negotiations or new proposals that would provide cover for the occupation’s aggression and grant it more time to continue its genocide against our people,” the Hamas statement added.
Protesters gather on Begin Street in Tel Aviv to demand early elections and a deal for the release of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, August 10, 2024. (Paulina Patimer/Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)
Several Hebrew media outlets cited unnamed sources Sunday evening saying the Hamas statement was no more than a bargaining tactic. The Kan public broadcaster cited sources involved in the talks as claiming Hamas was never even meant to participate in Thursday’s meeting, which is supposed to include Israeli, American, Qatari and Egyptian officials, with the mediators then meant to send the conclusions to the terror group.
Despite Netanyahu’s frequent statements regarding his desire for a hostage deal, sources told CNN that the prime minister’s intentions were less than clear. “Nobody knows what Bibi wants,” an unnamed source told CNN.
Moreover, Channel 13 news cited unnamed security sources highlighting deep distrust between Netanyahu and the negotiating team representing his government in the talks.
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The premier was reported to have said in recent closed meetings that he had “no trust in the negotiating team to bring a good deal. In return, the network said team members were complaining that they hadn’t been given a meaningful mandate ahead of the upcoming negotiation meetings.
But Israeli security sources cited by Channel 12 news appeared to be cautiously optimistic that a deal was within reach, believing an agreement could be reached at Thursday’s talks and put into action within days.
According to that report, which cited “positive” assessments by the unnamed sources, progress was being made to close the gap between Israel and Hamas on the deal’s terms. Echoing the CNN report, the sources said the outcome would depend on whether Netanyahu and Sinwar are prepared to show the “flexibility” needed to finalize the agreement.
Channel 12 said Qatar recently indicated that a document containing clarifications from Israel on several disputed issues had been conveyed to Hamas.
One of the key areas of contention between the two sides has been the issue of future arrangements for the Philadelphi Route along the Gaza-Egypt border, as well as the Rafah Border Crossing. However, Israeli security sources told Channel 12 they believed an agreement in these areas could be finalized by Israel, the US, and Egypt by Thursday. Mediators have accepted Israel’s demand that Hamas will not be party to these border arrangements, the report stated.
Israel regards security procedures along the Gaza-Egypt border as vital to prevent Hamas from resuming its import of weaponry and materials and thereby reviving its military capabilities.
The various negotiating parties have also reportedly started discussing the names of the hostages to be released under the deal, as well as the names of the Palestinian security prisoners who will be released in exchange. Israel has demanded that it be given the names of the hostages to be freed before implementation of the deal can begin, and the mediators recognize the importance of the condition, according to the report.
It added that Israel was ready to be flexible on demands made by Hamas regarding which Palestinian security prisoners would go free and which releases Israel would veto. Hamas in recent days was said to have demanded the release of top Fatah figure and jailed Second Intifada leader Marwan Barghouti in the first phase of the deal, and received approval from mediators including the US. Barghouti is serving multiple life terms for murder.
Jerusalem has reportedly indicated that it would be more flexible on the issue of the Palestinian security prisoners if Hamas were to include more living hostages among the 33 that it releases during the first 42-day stage of the anticipated three-phase deal.
The issues that remain unresolved include Netanyahu’s demand for a mechanism to prevent the return of armed operatives to northern Gaza, Channel 12 added, but quoted the security sources as having described the latest effort to finalize and implement the deal as “doable.”
The security sources warned, however, that this could be “the last opportunity” to reach a deal, after 310 days of war, during which 39 of the 111 hostages still in captivity died or were confirmed by the IDF to have been killed on October 7.
The mediators are “exhausted,” the report quoted the sources as saying, noting that the US presidential election campaign is gearing up ahead of November and that the region is on the brink of a potential escalation into wider conflict.
If this chance is not taken, the report warned, “there won’t be another opportunity for a long time, if at all.”
The war in Gaza erupted after Hamas’s October 7 massacre, which saw some 3,000 terrorists burst across the border into Israel by land, air and sea, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages, mostly civilians, many amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.
Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that. Seven hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 24 hostages have also been recovered, including three abductees mistakenly killed by the military as they escaped their captors.
Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.
Source » timesofisrael.com
