Hamas demands mediators guarantee positive result for Gaza ceasefire talks to continue
Mahmoud Taha, a Hamas official in Beirut, was speaking after sources told The National remote discussions had intensified in recent days between Egyptian and Qatari mediators on one side, and US and Israeli officials on the other.
'We have no objection to continuing negotiations if there are guarantees from the mediators and the international community to ensure results,' Mr Taha said. 'The core issue is the cessation of aggression, which [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu refuses to address in the negotiations."
Hamas has already agreed unconditionally to a 60-day truce and signalled it was open to suggestions to lay down its arms and for its leaders to leave Gaza and live in exile with their families.
However, a Hamas request for "small amendments" to the deal provoked an angry response from the US and Israel. The group has since informed mediators it had dropped its request, a source said.
Mr Netanyahu said Israel and the US were "considering alternative options" to bring home the remaining 49 hostages and end Hamas's rule in Gaza. The two allies withdrew their negotiators from Qatar on Friday, where the latest round of Gaza talks started on July 6.
US President Donald Trump suggested Mr Netanyahu should intensify military action against Hamas to eliminate the group. 'Hamas didn't really want to make a deal, I think they want to die,' Mr Trump said. It is time to 'finish the job' and 'get rid' of Hamas, he added.
Mr Taha said: 'Trump's remarks about changing his strategy in Gaza and threatening Hamas are irresponsible and do not intimidate the movement. If Israel truly had more cards to play, they wouldn't be negotiating with Hamas.'
He said 'all of these statements are aimed at pressuring Hamas into making concessions in the talks," calling on the US to "recalibrate" its policy.
The back-and-forth between Mr Trump and Hamas marks a shift from earlier this month, when Hamas said Gaza ceasefire talks with Israel were progressing due to Mr Trump's involvement in the process.
Change in strategy
Israel's announcement of a daily pause in military operations in three parts of Gaza and the opening of new aid corridors was, sources said, effectively the implementation of the humanitarian segment of the latest proposals to pause the Gaza war.
The war in Gaza began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led fighters stormed southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 250 hostages back to Gaza.
Israel's military response has killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians and wounded more than twice that number, Gaza health officials say. It has also reduced much of the enclave to ruins and displaced nearly all of the 2.3 million population.
Mr Trump said Israel would have to make a decision on its next steps in Gaza. He underscored the importance of securing the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, saying the group had suddenly 'hardened' its stance on the issue.
'They don't want to give them back and so Israel is going to have to make a decision,' he said at the start of a meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at his golf property in Turnberry, south-west Scotland.
"I know what I'd do but I don't think it's appropriate that I say it. But Israel is going to have to make a decision," he said, while also claiming – without evidence – that Hamas was stealing food coming into Gaza and selling it. Israel has also accused Hamas of looting aid but a US government analysis found no evidence of systematic theft.
US Senator Lindsey Graham has said Israel is preparing to intensify its military campaign in Gaza, comparing the strategy to allied operations on Tokyo and Berlin at the end of the Second World War.
'What we're talking about today is a change in strategy. I think President Trump has come to believe, and I've certainly come to believe, there's no way you're going to negotiate an end to this war with Hamas,' Mr Graham told NBC. 'Hamas is a terrorist organisation that is chartered to destroy the State of Israel. They're religious Nazis. They hold Israeli hostages.'
Mr Graham, from South Carolina, said Israel has concluded that dismantling Hamas is the only way to ensure its security.
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