From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, August 20, 2024
Hamas says Biden’s accusation that it backed away from latest deal is ‘misleading’
Gianluca Pacchiani is the Arab affairs reporter for The Times of Israel
Hamas issues a statement in response to US President Joe Biden, who has accused the terror group of “backing away” from a hostage deal with Israel that would halt the ongoing fighting in Gaza, saying that Biden’s words are “misleading” and do not reflect the movement’s real position.
Hamas’s statement calls Biden’s remarks an “American green light for the Zionist extremist government to commit more crimes against defenseless civilians.”
The Palestinian terror group says that the US-backed “bridging proposal” that was conveyed to Israel and to Hamas at the end of the talks in Doha on Friday is a “reversal” of what the parties had agreed on in early July, and blames the US for its “complete bias” towards Israel and its “partnership” with Israel in the war.
Hamas further calls on the US administration to reverse its policy toward Jerusalem and to “work seriously” to stop the war in Gaza.
Hamas issued its unilateral terms for a deal on July 2. Netanyahu said in July that the Hamas document included 29 changes to the Israeli proposal from May and that he had rejected it.
AFP contributed to this report.
