Hamas has asked mediators to present a plan based upon previous truce talks instead of attempting to find a new Gaza ceasefire deal, days ahead of talks proposed by the United States, Egypt and Qatar.
In a statement on its official Telegram channel, the group said that it wants a plan “based on [US President Joe] Biden’s May 31 ceasefire proposal, the framework laid out by mediators Qatar and Egypt on May 6, and UN Security Council Resolution 2735“.
The May 6 proposal, which Hamas previously agreed to and Israel rejected, also ensures the release of Israeli captives in Gaza as well as an unspecified number of Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
Sunday’s Hamas statement added that “the mediators should enforce this [May 6 proposal] 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”.
Reporting from Amman, Jordan, Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut said that Israeli media outlets are interpreting the Hamas statement as a rejection of the ceasefire talks altogether.
“But their [Hamas] statement did not say that. They’re merely calling on mediators to put the original proposal that they had agreed to, on the table,” she said.
August 15 talks
Last week, leaders of the US, Egypt and Qatar called on Israel and Hamas to meet for negotiations on August 15 in either Cairo or Doha to finalise a Gaza ceasefire and captive release deal.
Hamas spokesman Jihad Taha had said on Saturday that the group’s leadership is “studying” the invitation for these ceasefire talks.
Taha said that “the one obstructing the success of the last proposal is the Israeli occupation” and stressed that “closing the remaining gaps in the ceasefire agreement comes through exerting real pressure on the Israeli side, which was, and still is, practising a policy of placing obstacles in the way of the success of any efforts and endeavours leading to ending the aggression”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has previously said that he would not agree to any deal that stipulated an end to Israel’s war on Gaza without the full defeat of Hamas. But Israel has said it would send negotiators to take part in the ceasefire meeting on August 15.
If the talks take place, it would also mark the first time that Hamas will head into talks with Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar at the helm, following Israel’s assassination of Ismail Haniyeh.
Meanwhile, Israel’s strikes on Gaza continue to rage.
An Israeli air strike on the al-Tabin School compound in Gaza City housing displaced Palestinian families killed approximately 100 people on Saturday.
“Every time there is some sort of movement in these [ceasefire] negotiations, there is a large-scale attack in Gaza and it derails the talks all altogether,” Al Jazeera’s Salhut pointed out.
Hamas said that Israel carrying out the “al-Tabin school massacre” is further “proof that it only wants to escalate its aggression”.
But the group added that despite this attack, it will continue to adhere to the proposal laid out by the mediators that it had already agreed to previously.
