BEIRUT, (PIC)
Osama Hamdan, a senior leader in the Hamas Movement, said that Israel should voice a clear position accepting ceasefire, stressing that “if Washington acts positively and not according to Israeli demands, an agreement can be reached.”
During an interview with the CNN network in the Lebanese capital Beirut, Hamdan called for a clear position by Israel accepting ceasefire and complete withdrawal from Gaza, in order to reach a deal on the exchange of prisoners.
In response to a question, the Hamas leader explained that no one has any idea about how many Israeli captives are still alive, expressing Hamas’s readiness to reach a fair deal on the exchange of prisoners.
Hamdan emphasized Hamas’s basic demands to reach an agreement, which are the withdrawal of the Israeli occupation army from Gaza, reconstruction, lifting the siege, and allowing the Palestinians to decide their own future.
Hamdan affirmed that the latest proposal on the table, which is an Israeli plan announced by US President Joe Biden for the first time late last month, does not meet the Movement’s demands to end the war.
Earlier, mediators in Egypt and Qatar said they had received a response from Hamas and other Palestinian factions regarding the proposal. The Movement had previously announced it positively viewed the proposal and welcomed the content of the UN Security Council resolution on the matter.
Media sources revealed on Thursday the amendments that Hamas has made to the prisoner exchange deal proposal with Israel and the ceasefire.
The sources explained that Hamas is demanding the start of the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip in the first stage of the exchange deal, not the third stage.
They added that Hamas is demanding the start of the ceasefire in the first stage, and rejects any Israeli opposition to the names of the senior prisoners it is demanding to be released. Hamas also rejects the deportation of any released prisoner and stressed that they should be released to their original hometowns. It also demanded the release of the oldest serving prisoners.
They explained that Hamas wants the Israeli withdrawal from the Netzarim axis, which separates the north of the Strip from the south, on the third day of the start of the implementation of the deal.
