Middle East conflict
Hamas sees “crisis” in talks on ceasefire and hostages
Rubble and ruins on a street in the center of the Gaza Strip. photo
© XinHua/dpa
Hamas speaks of a “crisis” in the negotiations and makes serious accusations against the USA. Washington is said to have withdrawn offers previously made.
According to the Islamist Hamas, the negotiations over a new ceasefire in Gaza and the release of more hostages are in a “Crisis”.
A senior Hamas member told the Al-Jazeera news channel. The US, which is mediating between Israel and Hamas together with Qatar and Egypt, would “take Israel’s side” and withdraw previously made offers, it said. The USA had made a proposal that completely adopted the Israeli position. Israel had previously rejected a proposal from Hamas.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz recently reported that Hamas had only proposed releasing hostages from Gaza in return for Palestinian prisoners after a 42-day ceasefire. Hamas had previously rejected a US proposal to release 40 hostages in exchange for 900 Palestinian prisoners during a six-week ceasefire.
In the Hamas massacre at the beginning of October, around 250 people were kidnapped in the coastal area. Some of them were released after negotiations. Israel had previously assumed that just under 100 of the approximately 130 remaining hostages were alive. But now there are fears that significantly more could be dead. Israel wants to keep open the possibility of continuing the fighting in Gaza after a ceasefire.
On Tuesday evening, a high-ranking Israeli delegation stayed in Cairo for talks for around two hours, according to airport circles. No progress or new proposals were reported following these discussions.