Shortly after the UN Security Council approved a U.S.-drafted resolution “welcoming” the U.S.-proposed ceasefire for Gaza, Hamas issued a statement in which it said it viewed the resolution positively. However, there was only silence—except for the voice of U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken—coming out of Israel about it. Hamas said that it welcomed the resolution because it “affirmed the permanent ceasefire in Gaza, the complete withdrawal, the prisoners’ exchange, the reconstruction, the return of the displaced to their areas of residence, the rejection of any demographic change or reduction in the area of the Gaza Strip, and the delivery of needed aid to our people in the Strip.”
Hamas stressed “its readiness to cooperate with the mediators to engage in indirect negotiations on implementing these principles that are consistent with the demands of our people and resistance.” However, it also stressed “continuation of our endeavor and struggle with all our people to achieve their national rights, foremost of which is defeating the occupation and establishing their independent and full sovereign Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as its capital, along with the right of return and self-determination.”
