The head of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, stated this Wednesday (28/02) that the Islamic group “demonstrates flexibility” in negotiations for a temporary ceasefire agreement, but warned that it remains ready to continue fighting.
The version is different from the information released by Israel Military Radio, which indicated that Hamas would respond negatively to a likely agreement presented by Israel.
Egyptian diplomatic sources, cited by the network Al-Qudsindicated that there is a “preliminary agreement” that could possibly be reached at a meeting next Sunday (03/02) in Cairo.
The Qatari newspaper’Al-Arabi Al-Jadid‘ stated that there is a general understanding about the temporary pause in fighting and the exchange of hostages, but “the details are still an obstacle”.
“The difference is still big. We have to discuss many points with the mediators,” Basem Naim, head of political and international relations at Hamas, told Al Jazeerthat of Istanbul this Wednesday.
Naim had already told the Arabic newspaper Al Jazeera on Tuesday night (02/27) that Hamas had not yet received an official truce proposal, but that mediators were working with the Israeli side to consolidate one.
While Hamas was willing to be flexible on some aspects of a potential deal, it would not do so at the expense of its “main strategic objectives,” Qatari media quoted Naim as saying.
The Palestinian group’s demands include: a final and total ceasefire, not just a humanitarian pause; the total withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza; and freedom of movement for Palestinians in Gaza.
Hamas further states that it is willing to be flexible in the timing and sequence of its demands, as long as a full ceasefire begins on the first day of approval of any agreement.
For Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Maliki, the Islamic movement Hamas understood the need to establish a “technocratic government” responsible for all Palestinian territories.
“I think that Hamas supports the creation of a technocratic government,” declared al-Maliki, during a conference with journalists in Geneva, on the sidelines of the Human Rights Council.
Latest developments in the conflict
The Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, took responsibility for launching rockets from southern Lebanon, against the headquarters of the Israeli Eastern Command 769, “Camp Gibor”, and the barracks at Beit Hillel airport in northern Israel. These military infrastructures are located around Kiryat Shmona.
Hamas attacks against Israeli positions from Lebanon have not occurred since last November.
These Grad rocket attacks were launched in response to the massacres in Gaza and the January assassination of Saleh el-Arouri, a senior member of the group, in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
The Gaza Ministry of Health announced that 29,954 people have died in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war.
The entity also reported, in a press release, 76 deaths in the last 24 hours and a total of 70,325 injuries since October 7 and displaced the majority of the population of the Gaza Strip. Around 1.5 million are sheltering in the city of Rafah, on the border with Egypt, as Israel threatens a ground invasion there.
Source: www.brasildefato.com.br
