Hamas meets Egyptian and Qatari mediators, says it is ready to implement an “immediate” ceasefire based on previous US proposal without new conditions.
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Photos of hostages held in GazaDavid Cohen/Flash 90
The Hamas terrorist organization said on Wednesday evening that its negotiators reiterated the group’s readiness to implement an “immediate” ceasefire with Israel in Gaza based on a previous US proposal without new conditions from any party, Reuters reported.
In a statement, the group said that its negotiation team, led by senior official Khalil al-Hayya, met mediators on Wednesday, including Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and Egypt’s intelligence chief Abbas Kamel in Doha.
A source with knowledge of the issue told Barak Ravid of Axios that the Qatari and Egyptian mediators felt after the meeting with Hamas in Doha that it might be possible to present a new US-Qatari-Egyptian bridging proposal to the parties next week.
The United States has been pushing an outline for a ceasefire and hostage release deal that President Joe Biden first laid out in May, but Hamas has continuously rejected every proposal that has been presented to it.
The Washington Post reported last week that the US has been engaging with Egypt and Qatar to outline a final “take it or leave it” deal.
However, the same newspaper reported on Saturday that US officials have announced that they have “indefinitely postponed” the presentation of the final deal.
According to the Post, the latest obstacle is Hamas’ “abrupt introduction” of its demand that Israel release high-profile terrorists even in exchange for humanitarian prisoners.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday downplayed pessimism over the prospects of a hostage release deal, saying that the US will present a new proposal for a deal “very soon”.
Speaking during a press conference in London with United Kingdom Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Blinken was asked whether the talks on a ceasefire and hostage deal are at a deadlock. He was also asked whether he could give any assurances to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the Philadelphi Corridor and that Israel’s security will be preserved even if Israeli forces are not present there.
“On the ceasefire, here’s what I can tell you: More than 90 percent of the issues have been agreed, decided. So we’re down to a handful of issues – not even a handful of issues – that are hard but fully resolvable, in our judgment. And as we’ve said before, when you get down to the last 10 percent, the last 10 meters, those are, almost by definition, the hardest ground to cover. But we believe that these are fully resolvable,” Blinken replied.
“Right now, we’re working intensely with our Egyptian and Qatari counterparts to work together to bridge any remaining gaps. And in the coming time, very soon, we’ll put that before the parties and we’ll see what they say,” he added.
Content retrieved from: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/396054.