GAZA, (PIC)
Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan has welcomed the general ceasefire plan proposed by US president Joe Biden in a recent speech, which he said contained “positive ideas.”
In an interview conducted by Al Jazeera satellite channel on Saturday, Hamdan said that Biden’s ideas for a ceasefire in Gaza are positive but they are not enough, affirming that Hamas wants the matter to crystallize within the framework of a comprehensive agreement.
Hamdan reiterated his Movement’s rejection of any presence of Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip or at the Rafah border crossing in any potential deal, stressing that the Palestinian interior ministry administered the Rafah crossing before the war and would continue to do so after the war ends.
“There is no initiative. President Biden talked about ideas, and general ideas do not mean that an understanding could be reached. They are a general framework containing many details that were discussed over the past four months,” Hamdan said.
The Hamas official pointed out that the previous efforts made by Egyptian and Qatari mediators aimed at brokering a deal that leads to the withdrawal of the Israeli army from Gaza and ends its military operations.
“We already had a clear position and responded positively to such efforts and mediation. We accepted the final proposal that was presented by the mediators and approved by the US, but the Americans failed to oblige and convince the Israeli side to accept the paper, which led all the efforts that had been made in this regard to collapse,” Hamdan explained.
Hamdan stressed the need for a crystal-clear agreement that achieves a complete halt to the war, the withdrawal of the occupation forces from Gaza, the flow of aid and the reconstruction of the besieged territory.
In a related context, Gaza ceasefire mediators Qatar, Egypt, and the US called on both Hamas and Israel to finalize a truce deal as outlined by the US president.
“As mediators in the ongoing discussions to secure cease-fire in Gaza and the release of hostages and detainees, Qatar, the United States, and Egypt jointly call on both Hamas and Israel to finalize the agreement embodying the principles outlined by president Biden,” the Qatari foreign ministry said in a joint statement on Saturday, citing Biden’s Friday night address on the proposed deal.
“These principles brought the demands of all parties together in a deal that serves multiple interests and will bring immediate relief both to the long-suffering people of Gaza as well as the long-suffering hostages and their families,” the statement added.
The mediators emphasized that “this deal offers a roadmap for a permanent ceasefire and ending the crisis.”
