Hamas has issued a direct refutation of U.S. claims, made repeatedly by Secretary of State Tony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan over the last few days, about the proposed ceasefire deal, and Hamas’s response to it. Blinken, in Doha, Qatar, yesterday, put the onus entirely on Hamas to approve the deal, claiming that the whole world, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is behind it. In addition, he complained that, while some of the changes that Hamas has proposed are minor, others are “unworkable.”
Hamas, in a statement posted in its Telegram channel last night, said that firstly, “Hamas dealt positively and with national responsibility with the latest proposal, and with the previous proposals, aimed at reaching a ceasefire and a release of the detainees.”
Secondly: “Hamas announced its approval of the proposal that it received from the mediators on May 5th the very next day; as we delivered our response on May 6th, which was considered by the mediators and all parties to be positive and encouraging, while Netanyahu’s response to Hamas approval was attacking Rafah and escalating its aggression against our people throughout the Gaza Strip.”
Thirdly: while Hamas expressed its positive position on Biden’s May 31st speech, all the world heard “from the occupation government, led by terrorist Netanyahu, the emphasis to continue the war of genocide as well as denouncing the proposal announced by President Biden, in contrast to the claim that the occupation has agreed to it.”
Fourth: Hamas welcomed and stressed what was included in the UN Security Council resolution “regarding the permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the complete [IDF] withdrawal from it, the exchange of prisoners, the reconstruction, the return of the displaced to their areas of residence, the rejection of any demographic change or reduction of the area of the Gaza Strip, and providing the necessary aid to our people in the Strip.”
