The Palestinian Hamas movement accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday of “obstructing” the truce agreement in Gaza after the latest round of negotiations in Doha.
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He added: “We hold Benjamin Netanyahu fully responsible for the failure of the mediators' efforts to obstruct the agreement.” [celle] “The lives of the hostages are exposed to the same danger as our people,” the Palestinian Islamic movement announced in a press release as bombings continued in the Gaza Strip.
The United States presented a new settlement proposal on Friday after two days of discussions in Doha between American, Qatari and Egyptian mediators with Israel.
Hamas said the proposal “responds to the conditions set by Netanyahu, particularly his rejection of a permanent ceasefire and a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.”
The statement added that the Israeli Prime Minister “set new conditions for the prisoner exchange file and backed down on other points, which prevented the agreement from being completed.”
Netanyahu had earlier denounced the Islamic movement’s “stubborn refusal” to conclude a truce agreement, calling for “pressure to be directed at Hamas,” and “not at the Israeli government,” on the eve of a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Blinken arrived in Tel Aviv on Sunday evening to reach an agreement.
In the statement, Hamas renewed its “commitment to what was agreed upon on July 2, based on the Biden Declaration and the Security Council resolution,” and urged the mediators “to assume their responsibilities and oblige the 'occupation' to implement what was agreed upon.”
The US President's plan stipulates in the first phase a six-week truce, accompanied by an Israeli withdrawal from densely populated areas in Gaza and the release of the hostages kidnapped on October 7, and in its second phase, in particular, a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
Hamas's October 7 attack in southern Israel killed 1,198 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to a tally by AFP based on official data.
Of the 251 people kidnapped that day, 111 are still being held in Gaza, including 39 who have been declared dead by the military.
The Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip in response has killed at least 40,099 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, which did not give details of the number of civilians and fighters killed.
