Hamas rejects truce without ‘end to war’

AFP | Jerusalem   

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

A senior Hamas official insisted late yesterday that the group would “not agree under any circumstances” to a truce in Gaza that did not explicitly include a complete end to the war.

The official, who asked not to be named, also accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “personally hindering” efforts to reach a truce agreement due to “personal interests”.

Talks resumed in Egypt yesterday aimed at halting months of war in Gaza between Hamas fighters and Israel that have triggered protests around the world.

Mediators from Qatar, Egypt and the United States sat down with a Hamas delegation to hear the group’s response to a proposal that would halt fighting for 40 days and exchange hostages for Palestinian prisoners, according to details released by Britain.

Israel has yet to send a delegation to Cairo, with a top official telling AFP that it would do so only if there was “positive movement” on the proposed framework.

“Tough and long negotiations are expected for an actual deal,” the Israeli official cautioned.

Previous negotiations stalled in part on Hamas’s demand for a lasting ceasefire and Prime Minister Netanyahu’s repeated vows to crush the group’s remaining fighters in the southern city of Rafah, which is flooded with displaced civilians.

The prospect of an assault on Rafah has sparked deepening international concern.

‘Significant progress’

Egypt’s Al- Qahera News, which is linked to the intelligence services, quoted an unidentified high-ranking source as saying “there is significant progress in the negotiations” and that the mediators have “reached an agreed-upon formula on most points of contention”.

A senior Hamas official told AFP before the talks resumed that the movement “looks with an open mind to changes in the occupation’s (Israel’s) position and the American position, but there are issues that must be addressed”.

Senior Hamas official Hossam Badran accused Netanyahu on Friday of trying to undermine the latest truce proposal with his threats to keep fighting with or without a deal.

Badran said Netanyahu’s insistence on attacking Rafah was calculated to “thwart any possibility of concluding an agreement”.