Hamas rejects ceasefire proposal, dashing Biden’s hopes for a short-term deal

Hamas officials said Tuesday there had been no progress in mediated talks with Israel aimed at stopping the war and freeing remaining hostages in the Gaza Strip, a day after the president Joe Biden he said he hoped a ceasefire would be established. for the next week.

Basem Naim, a Hamas spokesman, said in a text message that the militant group had not yet formally received “any new proposal” since senior Israeli officials met with Qatari, Egyptian and American mediators in Paris last week to promote a possible deal.

Another Hamas official, Ahmad Abdelhadi, said the group stands by its demand that Israel agree to a long-term ceasefire and that the losses on conversations They were designed to pressure Hamas to soften its stance.

“We are not interested in compromising on what has been raised, because it does not meet our demands,” Abdelhadi said Tuesday in a television interview with al-Mayadeen, a Lebanese broadcaster.

Qatar, a key mediator in the talks, also expressed caution on Tuesday and said it could not comment on Biden’s view that negotiators were getting closer to a deal.

“The efforts continue; All parties hold regular meetings,” Majed al-Ansari, spokesman for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry, told reporters in Doha.

“But for now, while we hope the goal will be reached as soon as possible, we have nothing in hand to comment on that timeline.”

As the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins in less than two weeks, and as the death toll in Gaza approaches 30,000, global pressure has mounted on Israel to agree to a deal to halt the war, at least temporarily.

Biden, facing domestic pressure in an election year, has pushed for a deal as soon as possible, telling reporters in New York on Monday that “my hope is that by next Monday we will be able to stop the fire.”

That pressure led Israel to make major concessions in negotiations, two officials said, including one offer release 15 imprisoned Palestinians on serious terrorism charges in exchange for five Israeli female soldiers detained in Gaza.

That offer was part of a broader proposal to exchange dozens of Palestinian prisoners and detainees for 35 more hostages during a ceasefire lasting about six weeks, officials said.

Requirements

Hamas political leaders have insisted, at least publicly, that any agreement to release the more than 100 hostages still held in Gaza depends on a permanent ceasefire and withdrawal of Israeli troops. Israel has said it will not give up on its goal of toppling Hamas in Gaza, suggesting it will not accept a long-term truce.

At a news conference in Washington on Tuesday, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said negotiators “made significant progress” last week and were continuing to push for a deal between Israel and Hamas.

“We’re trying to get this deal across the finish line,” Miller said.

“We think it’s possible.”

But he added:

“Ultimately, part of this depends on Hamas and its willingness to accept a deal that would provide significant benefits to the Palestinian people it claims to represent.”

Without an agreement, the Palestinian Red Crescent said it had suspended emergency medical missions for two days in a part of Gaza where Israeli forces on Sunday intercepted a convoy evacuating patients from a hospital, interrogated and detained undercover workers, suspected that they were transporting Hamas. fighters.

Red Crescent and United Nations officials said they had approved the evacuation agreements with Israeli authorities.

Jens Laerke, spokesman for the United Nations humanitarian office in Geneva, said Tuesday that Israel knew details of the route, vehicles and identities of those traveling in the convoy.

But after the convoy left Al-Amal Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, it carried 24 patients needing surgery, he was arrested by Israeli forces.

Soldiers ordered patients and aid workers out of vehicles, forced paramedics to strip naked and blocked the convoy for seven hours, U.N. officials said.

One of the detainees was released a few hours later, the Red Crescent said.

In a statement, the Israeli army said it stopped the convoy after intelligence services “raised the possibility” that Hamas members were on board.

It said it had interrogated the Red Crescent workers for “information regarding their possible involvement in terrorist activities”.

He did not say what that information was.

The incident led the Red Crescent to announce Monday that it will suspend missions in areas where it will first have to coordinate its movements with Israeli troops.

The group criticized the Israeli occupation forces’ “lack of commitment and respect for agreed procedures and coordination mechanisms.”

The UN humanitarian team for the Palestinian territories said the interception of the Al-Amal convoy was “not an isolated incident”.

“Humanitarian convoys have been attacked and people in need are systematically denied access,” he said in a statement.

“Aid workers have been harassed, intimidated or detained by Israeli forces, and humanitarian infrastructure has been attacked.”

Israel has released intelligence demonstrating Hamas intervention use of civilian medical infrastructure, including hospitals, for military purposes and accused some aid workers, including a dozen Palestinians employed by the United Nations, of having ties to Hamas and participating in the October 7 attacks. attacks in southern Israel that precipitated the war.

Obstacles

Underscoring obstacles to land aid efforts in Gaza, planes from the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and France joined a Jordanian operation to drop aid along the Gaza coast on Tuesday, the Jordanian military said.

It was the first time Egypt sent air aid to Gaza.

Jordanian and French planes had earlier dropped aid, including ready-made meals, into Gaza on Monday, the Jordanian army said.

Video footage on Monday showed a group of parachutes falling into the sea near Deir al Balah, a town in central Gaza.

Men in small boats rowed through rough waters to retrieve aid.

When they returned to shore, hundreds of people on the beach rushed to collect the packages.

“It was sad to see people I know well running and crowding for help, but that’s not enough,” said Alaa Fayad, a veterinary student who filmed the scene and posted it online.

The drop in aid came after the World Food Program suspended food deliveries to northern Gaza last week, saying that despite dire needs it could not operate safely amid gunfire and the “collapse of order civil” of the last days.

The WFP and other UN humanitarian agencies have repeatedly warned that Israeli authorities are systematically blocking their access to northern Gaza.

Israel has denied blocking aid deliveries and blames the United Nations and Hamas for the delays.

The suspension of WFP deliveries indicates that airdrops may be one of the few viable options left to quickly get food into northern Gaza, said Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, a Middle East political analyst who grew up in the enclave.

Jordan’s airdrops, he said, set a “critical precedent” by demonstrating that the approach can work.

“It is not enough to hope for a ceasefire,” said Fouad Alkhatib.

“We need to act now.”

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