Hamas spokesman on hostage-truce talks: ‘We don’t trust Netanyahu or the US administration’

As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells US President Biden that he has agreed to send an Israeli delegation to renewed indirect negotiations, a Hamas spokesman is quoted as saying, “We do not trust Netanyahu or the US administration. We trust the resistance, our people, and the support fronts,” a reference to other Iran-backed terror groups including Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“By monitoring Netanyahu’s statements, we can notice the contradiction, and this confirms that Netanyahu is not serious about reaching an agreement,” Hamas spokesman in Lebanon Ahmed Abdel Hadi tells the pro-Hezbollah Lebanese al Mayadeen satellite news station, adding that “Netanyahu does not want a ceasefire.”

He says that Hamas is “dealing objectively” and vows to “continue the resistance if an agreement is not reached, and if an agreement is reached, that is excellent.”

The Hamas spokesman says the terror group did not “submit a paper or provide a response” to the latest hostage-ceasefire deal proposal, but rather “showed flexibility.”

“We were seeking to formulate fixed phrases, and the flexibility today is in form, not content,” Abdel Hadi is quoted as saying.

“We were told by the mediators that the atmosphere is positive and that an agreement can be reached,” he adds.

More than six months of negotiations carried out by mediators including the US, Qatar and Egypt have time and again failed to advance toward a deal that would see the release of the 116 hostages kidnapped on October 7 who are believed to remain captive in Gaza, in exchange for a truce in fighting and the release of hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners.

Lazar Berman contributed to this report.