RAFAH: United States (US) President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that a Gaza ceasefire deal in exchange for the release of Israeli hostages was in the hands of Hamas, as delegations entered a third day of talks with no sign of a breakthrough.
Negotiators from Hamas, Qatar and Egypt – but not Israel – are trying in Cairo to broker a 40-day truce in Hamas’ war with Israel in time for the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which begins early next week.
The deal put forward by Hamas would allow the release of some hostages taken by Hamas militants in the October attack that precipitated the war, while aid to Gaza would increase to try to stave off famine as hospitals treat acutely malnourished children, and Hamas would provide a list of all hostages held in Gaza.
But in Beirut, Hamas official Osama Hamdan reiterated his group’s main demands: an end to the Israeli military offensive, the withdrawal of Israeli forces and the return of all Gazans to the homes they were forced to flee.
He said any exchange of prisoners could only take place after a ceasefire, reflecting Hamas’s view that a ceasefire must be primarily a step towards settling the conflict.
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Israel only wants a pause in the fighting to get hostages out of Gaza and more aid and insists it will not end the conflict until Hamas is “eliminated”.
At a briefing outside Hamdan, government spokesman Avi Hyman said the Islamist movement would have to “come down from its delusional positions and come into our orbit.”
He added: “Hamas understands military pressure and we bring it to them.”
Washington, Israel’s main political and military backer and sponsor of the talks, also put the onus squarely on Gaza’s rulers.
“Right now it’s in the hands of Hamas. The Israelis cooperated. There was a rational offer,” Biden told reporters.
“If we get to the point where [the fighting] continues until Ramadan… it will be very dangerous.”
Palestinian-Israeli violence in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories often peaks during Ramadan, as does hostility toward Israel in the Arab and Muslim world, creating a strong incentive for leaders to strike a deal by then.
