Qatari claim Hamas gave initial okay to deal ‘rushed and wrong,’ Palestinian source says

A senior Palestinian source tells Lebanese news outlet Al-Mayadeen that Qatar jumped the gun in appearing to announce that Hamas had given initial approval to a ceasefire proposal.

The statement “was rushed and is incorrect,” the source says, claiming that Hamas’s leadership has yet to schedule meetings in Cairo to discuss the proposal with Egyptian mediators.

A similar quote is carried by AFP from a source close to Hamas: “There is no agreement on the framework of the agreement yet — the factions have important observations — and the Qatari statement is rushed and not true.”

In Al-Mayadeen, the source claims that the positive signals are a plot by the Israeli media to stir up public expectations about the nascent deal.

Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari earlier said that a proposed deal “has been approved by the Israeli side and now we have an initial positive confirmation from the Hamas side.”

The comments at Johns Hopkins University in Washington briefly triggered some celebrations in Gaza, including celebratory gunfire, and a drop in the price of crude oil.

But a Qatari official in Doha tells Reuters there is no ceasefire deal yet, and that Hamas had “received the proposal positively” but not responded yet.

Taher Al-Nono, media adviser to Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, tells Reuters: “We have received the proposal that was put together in Paris but we haven’t yet given a response to any of the parties.”

“We can’t say that the current stage of negotiation is zero and at the same time we can’t say that we have reached an agreement,” Al-Nono says.