From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, August 20, 2024
Hamas sources detail why terror group turned down latest truce-hostage proposal — report
Gianluca Pacchiani is the Arab affairs reporter for The Times of Israel
An unnamed Hamas source reiterates that the Palestinian terror group turned down the latest “bridging proposal” by the US because it contains ostensible new elements that the source says were added by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and are unacceptable to Hamas.
The sticking points in the latest proposal include the possibility of Israel objecting to the number and identities of Palestinian security prisoners to be freed in exchange for hostages, and the deportation abroad of a large number of those prisoners, as well as the searching of displaced Gazans as they return to their homes in the north of the Strip, the source tells the Qatari-owned Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.
The source argues that Hamas has shown flexibility with regard to the timeline for the IDF withdrawal from the Strip, walking back its demand that it must take place in the first phase of the ceasefire, but Netanyahu has not done the same with regards to the IDF withdrawal from the Philadelphi and the Netzarim corridors, and has added new conditions.
Al-Araby Al-Jadeed further quotes Hamas politburo member Suheil al-Hindi saying that Hamas will not budge from its July 2 response to an earlier Israeli proposal, and will not renegotiate the deal.
Al-Hindi accuses Netanyahu of interpreting Hamas’s “flexibility” as a sign of submission and surrender, and says that the terror group has conveyed its position to mediators Egypt and Qatar, urging them to pressure Israel to abide by what has been agreed upon.
In a statement on Sunday evening, Hamas claimed that the latest US-backed text — a “bridging proposal” that was conveyed to Israel and to Hamas at the end of the talks in Doha on Friday — was aligned with Israel’s demands, citing Israel’s position on the two corridors and issues related the release of Palestinian security prisoners, without further specification.
On Sunday, a Saudi paper reported ostensible new details of the deal, including a reduced IDF presence on the Philadelphi Corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border, the possibility of Israel vetoing the names of at least 100 Palestinian prisoners slated for release, and the deportation of many of them abroad.
