Mediators' role to oblige 'Israel' comply with July 2 paper: Hamas

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Al Mayadeen
15 Aug 2024 16:02
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Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan tells Al Mayadeen that the core message is that Hamas is not willing to give the Israeli occupation more time to commit further massacres.

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Hamas political official Osama Hamdan speaks during an interview for The Associated Press in Doha, Qatar, Tuesday, August 13, 2024. (AP)

Hamas' delegation will participate in the negotiations only if the mediators informed it that the Israeli occupation agreed on the July 2 paper regarding a ceasefire in Gaza and a prisoner exchange, senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan told Al Mayadeen on Thursday.

An informed source told Reuters that talks in the Qatari capital Doha aimed at reaching a ceasefire agreement and a prisoner exchange deal have kicked off.

Hamdan confirmed that the July 2 paper fully addressed the issue of a ceasefire and the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, adding that the Palestinian movement issued a clear statement regarding the Doha talks based on the ongoing negotiation process.

The Palestinian official affirmed that Hamas agreed to all positive points in the mediators' proposal, while the Israeli occupation persisted in perpetrating massacres.

He made it clear that the core message is that Hamas is not willing to give the Israeli occupation more time to commit further massacres, adding that the movement's primary goal is to halt the ongoing aggression on Gaza.

Elsewhere, Hamdan stressed that it is the mediators' role to oblige the party committing the aggression to the terms of the paper that the Americans pledged.

US and officials from other countries told NBC News that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu added further conditions that have hampered mediated negotiations with the Palestinian Resistance for a ceasefire.

When the outlines of a deal are agreed on with the Israeli negotiating team, the information would be sent to Netanyahu, who, according to a Middle Eastern official, "would then move the goalposts and propose new conditions," the media network reported.

In the same context, The New York Times cited both current and former American and Israeli officials as suggesting that one of "Israel's" key objectives, which is the retrieval of around 115 captives still held in Gaza since October 7, cannot be achieved through military means but only through negotiations.