Israel did not agree to any proposal presented by mediators, says Hamas official

A senior member of the Hamas Political Bureau said on Tuesday that Israel did not agree to any of the ceasefire-prisoner swap proposals presented by mediators. Mousa Abu Marzouk stressed that there is no agreement on anything yet.

“All countries in the world support the ceasefire in Gaza, even the Israelis, with the exception of their Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,” said Abu Marzouk. He added that if Netanyahu wants to preserve the lives of the remaining Israeli hostages, “he must accept the Qatari-Egyptian proposal.”

Hamas, insisted the senior official, is negotiating “seriously and responsibly, and has made major concessions in order to stop the aggression against our people.” It has, he pointed out, even reduced the number of Palestinian prisoners and Israeli hostages to be exchanged in response to US demands.

According to Abu Marzouk, Netanyahu sends negotiation teams without powers “to thwart any agreement” and is bombing Rafah under the pretext of “pressuring” Hamas. “Moreover, the [Israeli] occupation has not achieved any of its goals it had set for the war on Gaza, and closing the Rafah crossing is nothing compared with its crimes in the Gaza Strip.”

He pointed out that the exit of Palestinian patients from the Rafah crossing for treatment abroad was limited even before it was closed by the Israeli occupation forces, because only children and women were allowed to pass through the crossing.

Hamas announced on Monday that it had informed the Qatari and Egyptian mediators of its approval of their proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

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