Hamas official: US resolution at UN based on deal that is ‘not acceptable to us’

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri. (AP/Hatem Moussa)
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri. (AP/Hatem Moussa)

Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri tells Reuters that while the group welcomes what he calls “Biden’s ideas” to reach a truce in fighting in Gaza, he says a US draft resolution at the UN Security Council is dependent on an Israeli ceasefire proposal that Hamas had already seen and rejected.

“The [US] document… has no mention of ending the aggression or the withdrawal,” he says. “The Israeli documents speak of open-ended negotiation with no deadline, and it speaks of a stage during which the occupation regains its hostages and resumes the war. We had told the mediators that such a paper wasn’t acceptable to us.”

But Abu Zuhri says Hamas is committed to its May 5 proposal, under which the terror group would retain control of the Strip and release very few hostages in exchange for hundreds of imprisoned terrorists — a plan swiftly rejected by Israel.

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