Hamas, the Palestinian group controlling Gaza, announced on Sunday it would not participate in upcoming cease-fire negotiations scheduled for this week. They insist that mediators first present a plan based on prior discussions.
“The movement calls on the mediators to present a plan to implement what was agreed upon by the movement on July 2, 2024, based on [President] vision and the UN Security Council resolution,” Hamas declared in a Telegram statement.
Hamas, still holding dozens of hostages including Americans, claimed to have shown “flexibility” throughout the negotiating process, but alleges that recent Israeli actions – including the assassination of its leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran last month – demonstrate a lack of seriousness in achieving a cease-fire agreement.
Hamas urged mediators, including the United States, Egypt and Qatar, to submit a plan to implement the previously agreed upon terms from last month “instead of going to more rounds of negotiations or new proposals that provide cover for the occupation’s aggression.”
President Biden expressed his belief to CBS News that a deal, including the release of 115 hostages, is still attainable.
“The plan I put together, endorsed by G7, endorsed by the U.N. Security Council, et cetera, is still viable,” Biden stated in an interview published Sunday. “And I’m working literally every single day – and my whole team – to see to it that it doesn’t escalate into a regional war. But it easily can.”
Meanwhile, a senior Israeli official involved in negotiations dismissed Hamas’ announcement as a “tactical move in preparation for a possible attack by Iran and Hezbollah and to try to obtain better terms for a deal.”
The official told the Israeli news outlet Walla: “If Hamas does not come to the table, we will continue to crush their forces in Gaza.”
These statements come after the Israeli military ordered further evacuations in southern Gaza, a day after a deadly airstrike on a school-turned-shelter in the north killed at least 80 Palestinians, according to Hamas-affiliated local health authorities.
The latest evacuation orders apply to areas of Khan Younis, Gaza’s second-largest city, including part of an Israeli-declared humanitarian zone from which the military said rockets had been fired. Israel accuses Hamas and other militants of hiding among civilians and launching attacks from residential areas.
The conflict began when Hamas-led militants stormed southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and attacked farming communities and army bases near the border, killing around 1,200 Israelis and abducting around 250 people. Of the remaining hostages, Israeli authorities believe around a third are likely dead.
Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants, says the Palestinian death toll from the war is approaching 40,000.
The months-long conflict has threatened to trigger a regional war as Israel has traded fire with Iran and its militant allies across the region.