Hamas says won’t join upcoming Gaza cease-fire talks in Qatar

By Mohamed Majed and Nour Abuaisha

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – Hamas will not join the upcoming round of Gaza cease-fire and hostage swap talks in Qatar on Thursday, a group leader said on Wednesday.

“The movement will not be part of the upcoming negotiations set to resume on Thursday, whether they take place in Doha or Cairo,” Suhail Hindi told Anadolu.

He said the resistance group has requested a “clear commitment from Israel regarding what was agreed upon on July 2 (based on a US President Joe Biden-backed proposal).”

“If this happens, Hamas is ready to engage in the implementation mechanisms of the agreement,” he added.

On Sunday, Hamas demanded that Gaza cease-fire mediators present a plan to implement a proposal supported by Biden that it had agreed upon on July 2.

It came after Egyptian, Qatari, and US mediators urged Israel and Hamas last week to conclude a cease-fire and hostage release deal with no further delays or excuses.

Last May, Biden said Israel presented a three-phase deal that would end hostilities in Gaza and secure the release of hostages held in the coastal enclave. The plan includes a cease-fire, a hostage-prisoner exchange, and the reconstruction of Gaza.

Indirect talks mediated by the US, Qatar, and Egypt have failed to agree on a permanent cease-fire and a hostage-prisoner swap over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to accept Hamas’ demand to end the war on Gaza.

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack last year by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

Nearly 40,000 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and over 92,000 others injured, according to local health authorities.

More than ten months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

The International Court of Justice has accused Israel of genocide and ordered a halt to its military operations in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge before the city was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala