Hamas official: We will soon announce position on proposed hostage deal framework

Hamas leaders are reviewing a proposed framework for a hostage deal thrashed out by top officials from Israel, Qatar, Egypt and the United States, but more time was needed to “announce our position,” says Osama Hamdan, a top Hamas official in Lebanon.

He tells a news conference that his movement “has repeatedly said” it was “open to discussing any initiative… putting an end to this barbaric aggression against our Palestinian people.”

But while Hamdan confirms the group had received the truce proposal drafted by mediators in Paris, he says an agreement had not yet been reached and that the plan was missing some details.

“We will announce our position” soon, “based on… our desire to put an end as quickly as possible to the aggression that our people suffer,” he adds.

A Hamas source says the current three-stage truce proposal includes an initial six-week pause in fighting that would see some hostages released for Palestinian prisoners, with potential extensions.

Hamdan, whose terror group demanded a total ceasefire prior to any agreement, also denounced an “Israeli disinformation campaign” aimed at “distorting” Hamas’s position.

Israel has “rejected all initiatives made so far… in order to continue the aggression,” he claims.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to the Middle East again tomorrow to press for an agreement, the State Department says.