Hamas slams Blinken's remarks on rejecting Israel's 'generous' cease-fire proposal

By Ahmed Asmar

ANKARA (AA) - The Palestinian Hamas group on Friday strongly denounced a statement by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken accusing the group of rejecting Israel's "generous" cease-fire proposal.

In a statement, the group described Blinken's statement as "blatant bias" to Israel and "a falsification of reality" that confirms that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is obstructing the talks "for his personal political interests".

"Hamas's negotiating tactics have always been rooted in the interests of our Palestinian people," the statement added.

In a briefing on Friday, Blinken accused Hamas of "standing between the Gazan people and a cease-fire."

He also claimed that Hamas has "rejected generous proposals from Israel."

At several occasions, Hamas outlined its parameters to any deal with Israel which are the Israeli army's complete withdrawal from Gaza, the return of displaced Palestinians to their homes in northern Gaza, and the flow of humanitarian aid insufficient quantities.

The US, Qatar and Egypt have tried to broker an agreement to release the remaining Israeli captives. However, no breakthroughs have been reached so far.

Israel has killed nearly 34,000 Palestinians since an Oct. 7, 2023 cross-border attack by Hamas in which some 1,200 Israelis were killed and around 250 hostages taken.

The conflict has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed.​​​​​​​

Global calls for a cease-fire have been growing as the war has entered its seventh month.