Hamas official dismisses US optimism over ceasefire deal
(AFP) – A senior Hamas official on Saturday dismissed optimistic talk by US President Joe Biden that a Gaza truce is nearer after negotiations in the Gulf emirate of Qatar.
Issued on: 17/08/2024 -
Palestinians inspect the site of a deadly Israeli strike in Al-Zawaida in the central Gaza Strip © Eyad BABA / AFP
"To say that we are getting close to a deal is an illusion," Hamas political bureau member Sami Abu Zuhri told AFP. "We are not facing a deal or real negotiations, but rather the imposing of American diktats."
He was responding to Biden's comment Friday that "We are closer than we have ever been."
Biden spoke after two days of talks in Qatar where Washington tried to bridge differences between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas which have been at war for more than 10 months in the Gaza Strip.
Previous optimism during months of on-off truce talks has proven unfounded.
But the stakes have risen significantly since the late July killings in quick succession of Fuad Shukr, a top operations chief of Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, and Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh.
Their deaths prompted promises of retaliation from Iran and Hezbollah and fears of a wider Middle East war.
Trying to avert a broader conflict, Western and Arab diplomats have been shuttling around the region to push for a Gaza deal which they say could help avert a wider conflagration.
"To say that we are getting close to a deal is an illusion," Hamas political bureau member Sami Abu Zuhri told AFP. "We are not facing a deal or real negotiations, but rather the imposing of American diktats."
He was responding to Biden's comment Friday that "We are closer than we have ever been."
Biden spoke after two days of talks in Qatar where Washington tried to bridge differences between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas which have been at war for more than 10 months in the Gaza Strip.
Previous optimism during months of on-off truce talks has proven unfounded.
But the stakes have risen significantly since the late July killings in quick succession of Fuad Shukr, a top operations chief of Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, and Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh.
Their deaths prompted promises of retaliation from Iran and Hezbollah and fears of a wider Middle East war.
Trying to avert a broader conflict, Western and Arab diplomats have been shuttling around the region to push for a Gaza deal which they say could help avert a wider conflagration.
Children sit in the back of a small vehicle piled high with belongings as their family flees fighting in the Deir el-Balah district of the central Gaza Strip © Eyad BABA / AFP
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is headed back to the region this weekend in a bid to help seal a deal.
Hamas officials have objected to "new conditions" from Israel in the latest proposal drawn up by Washington.
Israel's delegation expressed "cautious optimism" about the prospects for an agreement after returning from Doha, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Saturday.
"There is hope that the heavy pressure on Hamas from the United States and mediators will lead to the removal of their opposition to the American proposal, potentially allowing a breakthrough in the negotiations," it said.
In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of Britain, France, Germany and Italy urged all parties to "engage positively and flexibly" in the negotiations.
"We underline the importance of avoiding any escalatory action in the region which would undermine the prospect for peace," they added.
"There is too much at stake."
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is headed back to the region this weekend in a bid to help seal a deal.
Hamas officials have objected to "new conditions" from Israel in the latest proposal drawn up by Washington.
Israel's delegation expressed "cautious optimism" about the prospects for an agreement after returning from Doha, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Saturday.
"There is hope that the heavy pressure on Hamas from the United States and mediators will lead to the removal of their opposition to the American proposal, potentially allowing a breakthrough in the negotiations," it said.
In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of Britain, France, Germany and Italy urged all parties to "engage positively and flexibly" in the negotiations.
"We underline the importance of avoiding any escalatory action in the region which would undermine the prospect for peace," they added.
"There is too much at stake."
Strikes in Lebanon, Gaza
As efforts towards a truce continued, so did the killing in Gaza and Lebanon.
Lebanon's health ministry said an Israeli air strike in the southern Nabatieh area killed 10 Syrians, including a woman and her two children.
A man inspects the damage after an Israeli strike, which Lebanese authorities said killed 10 Syrian refugees in the Nabatieh area of the south © Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP
The strike was among the deadliest in south Lebanon since the onset of near-daily exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah following the start of the Gaza war.
Israel's military said it struck a Hezbollah weapons storage facility.
In Hamas-run Gaza, the civil defence authority said an Israeli air strike killed 15 people from a single Palestinian family. The deaths in Al-Zawaida helped push the Gaza health ministry's war death toll to 40,074.
"We are in the morgue seeing indescribable scenes of limbs and severed heads and children who are dismembered," said Omar al-Dreemli, a relative.
Israel's military told AFP that overnight its forces had struck "terrorist infrastructure" in central Gaza from which rockets were being fired.
The strike was among the deadliest in south Lebanon since the onset of near-daily exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah following the start of the Gaza war.
Israel's military said it struck a Hezbollah weapons storage facility.
In Hamas-run Gaza, the civil defence authority said an Israeli air strike killed 15 people from a single Palestinian family. The deaths in Al-Zawaida helped push the Gaza health ministry's war death toll to 40,074.
"We are in the morgue seeing indescribable scenes of limbs and severed heads and children who are dismembered," said Omar al-Dreemli, a relative.
Israel's military told AFP that overnight its forces had struck "terrorist infrastructure" in central Gaza from which rockets were being fired.
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike in Al-Zawaida, central Gaza, which the civil defence agency said killed 15 people from a Palestinian family © Eyad BABA / AFP
"Reports were received that as a result of the strike, civilians in an adjacent structure were killed. The incident is under review," it said.
The war has destroyed much of Gaza's housing and healthcare infrastructure, leaving children vulnerable to preventable diseases.
The United Nations appealed Friday for seven-day pauses in the fighting so it could vaccinate children against polio, as the Palestinian health ministry reported Gaza's first polio case in 25 years.
"Reports were received that as a result of the strike, civilians in an adjacent structure were killed. The incident is under review," it said.
The war has destroyed much of Gaza's housing and healthcare infrastructure, leaving children vulnerable to preventable diseases.
The United Nations appealed Friday for seven-day pauses in the fighting so it could vaccinate children against polio, as the Palestinian health ministry reported Gaza's first polio case in 25 years.
'Bring them home'
Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,198 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Militants also seized 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 39 the military says are dead. More than 100 were freed during a one-week truce in November.
The Israeli military says 332 soldiers have been killed in the Gaza campaign since the ground offensive began on October 27.
In Israel, Blinken will seek to "conclude the agreement for a ceasefire and release of hostages and detainees", the State Department said.
Egyptian, Qatari and US mediators are working to finalise details of a framework agreement initially outlined by Biden in May. He said Israel had proposed it.
Israelis in the northern port city of Haifa demonstrate in support of a deal that will bring Israeli hostages home © AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP
Thousands rallied in Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities on Saturday demanding a deal that would bring home the remaining Gaza hostages.
"We all know there's a real possibility for a deal," said Mor Korngold, hostage Tal Shoham's brother.
"These are crucial hours for my brother, for the hostages, for the soldiers, for those displaced from their homes, for the entire country."
In a joint statement after two days of talks in Qatar, the mediators said they would meet in Cairo "before the end of next week", hoping to seal an agreement.
Gazans on the move again
As truce talks took place, thousands of civilians were on the move again after the Israeli military issued fresh evacuation orders ahead of imminent action in central-southern Gaza.
Thousands rallied in Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities on Saturday demanding a deal that would bring home the remaining Gaza hostages.
"We all know there's a real possibility for a deal," said Mor Korngold, hostage Tal Shoham's brother.
"These are crucial hours for my brother, for the hostages, for the soldiers, for those displaced from their homes, for the entire country."
In a joint statement after two days of talks in Qatar, the mediators said they would meet in Cairo "before the end of next week", hoping to seal an agreement.
Gazans on the move again
As truce talks took place, thousands of civilians were on the move again after the Israeli military issued fresh evacuation orders ahead of imminent action in central-southern Gaza.
"During each round of negotiations, they exert pressure by forcing evacuations and committing massacres," said Issa Murad, a Palestinian displaced to Deir el-Balah.
Over the past day, troops expanded operations around Gaza's main southern city of Khan Yunis including by "eliminating" militants who had fired munitions toward Nirim, just outside Gaza, Israel's military said Saturday.
Witnesses told AFP air strikes hit the Hamad residential towers in the city's northwest.
In the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials said two people were killed in an Israeli air strike on a car in the northern city of Jenin that Israel's military said targeted a "terrorist cell".
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Blinken returns to Israel in Gaza truce push as Hamas rejects US ‘diktats’
By AFP
August 18, 2024
Smoke billows over the Hamad residential towers in Gaza's main southern city of Khan Yunis after an Israeli bombardment on Saturday © Bashar TALEB / AFP
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was due in Israel on Sunday as mediators seek to cement a Gaza ceasefire deal, while a senior Hamas official dismissed “American diktats” in negotiations.
Making his ninth trip to the Middle East since the Gaza war broke out with the Palestinian militant group’s October 7 attack, Blinken is expected to meet Israeli leaders before truce talks resume in Cairo in the coming days.
US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators have said negotiations to clinch a ceasefire in the more than 10-month-old war were making progress, and US President Joe Biden said “we are closer than we have ever been”.
But Hamas political bureau member Sami Abu Zuhri undercut the cautious optimism, telling AFP that signs of progress after two days of talks in Doha were “an illusion”.
“We are not facing a deal or real negotiations, but rather the imposing of American diktats,” he said.
Previous optimism during months of on-off truce talks has proven unfounded.
But the stakes have risen since the late July killings in quick succession of Iran-backed militant leaders, including Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh, and as the humanitarian crisis in the besieged Gaza Strip has deepened with a feared polio outbreak.
After mediators announced they had put forward a “bridging proposal” to close remaining gaps between the warring sides, Hamas said it rejected “new conditions” from Israel and called for a plan outlined by Biden in late May to be implemented.
Before Blinken departed for Tel Aviv on Saturday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office called for “heavy pressure” on Hamas to reach a breakthrough.
The Palestinian group as well as some analysts and Israeli protesters have accused Netanyahu of hamstringing a deal to safeguard his hard-right ruling coalition.
“We have a prime minister that is not so much willing to release the hostages, to finish the war, because he has he own interests,” Yossi, a 53-year-old protester, said as thousands rallied in Tel Aviv demanding a deal to bring home the captives still held in Gaza.
– Strikes in Lebanon, Gaza –
As efforts towards a long-sought truce continued, so has the violence in Gaza but also in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and in Lebanon, where Hamas ally Hezbollah has traded near-daily fire with Israeli forces throughout the war.
Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli air strike on Saturday in the Nabatieh area killed 10 Syrians, including a woman and her two children, one of the deadliest attacks on south Lebanon since October.
Israel’s military said it struck a Hezbollah weapons storage facility.
In Hamas-run Gaza, the civil defence agency said an Israeli air strike killed 15 people from a single Palestinian family.
“We are in the morgue seeing indescribable scenes of limbs and severed heads and children who are dismembered,” said Omar al-Dreemli, a relative.
The Israeli military told AFP its forces had targeted rocket launchers in central Gaza and that it was looking into “reports… that as a result of the strike, civilians in an adjacent structure were killed”.
The deaths in Al-Zawaida helped push the Gaza health ministry’s war death toll to 40,074.
Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,198 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
The war has destroyed much of Gaza’s housing and healthcare infrastructure, leaving children vulnerable to preventable diseases.
The United Nations appealed Friday for seven-day pauses in the fighting so it could vaccinate children against polio, as the Palestinian health ministry reported Gaza’s first polio case in 25 years.
– ‘Conclude the agreement’ –
Iran and its regional allies have vowed retaliation for Haniyeh’s death in Tehran, an attack which Israel has not claimed responsibility for, and for an Israeli strike in Beirut that killed a top Hezbollah commander.
Western and Arab diplomats have been shuttling around the region to push for a Gaza deal which they see as the best way to avert a wider conflagration following the high-profile killings.
In Israel, Blinken will seek to “conclude the agreement for a ceasefire and release of hostages and detainees”, the State Department said.
The proposed deal, which Biden outlined on May 31 but attributed to Israel, would freeze fighting for an initial six weeks and lead to the release of hostages and prisoners.
During Hamas’s October 7 attack, militants seized 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 39 the military says are dead. More than 100 were freed during a one-week truce in November.
In Gaza, civilians have been on the move again after the Israeli military issued fresh evacuation orders.
“During each round of negotiations, they exert pressure by forcing evacuations and committing massacres,” said Issa Murad, a Palestinian displaced to cental Gaza’s Deir al-Balah.
Israeli troops have also expanded operations around Gaza’s main southern city of Khan Yunis, Israel’s military said Saturday.
In the West Bank, Israel said late Saturday it had killed “two senior Hamas officials” in Jenin.
Hamas’s armed wing confirmed the deaths of Ahmad Abu Ara and Raafat Dawasi, saying they had been responsible “for planning and executing several qualitative operations”.
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