Hamas denies it presented new ideas for truce deal

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Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan has denied that the Palestinian Islamist group has put forward new ideas for the US-backed proposal for a Gaza ceasefire, after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said it had suggested numerous changes.

Osama Hamdan 2009
Pic: Wikimedia Commons

Hamdan, speaking to pan-Arab al-Araby TV, also said Blinken was “part of the problem, not the solution” in the Gaza war.

Earlier, Blinken said that Hamas had suggested many changes – some unworkable – to the proposal although he also said mediators remained determined to close the gaps.

“In everything that we presented, we affirmed our commitment to what was presented on May 5 to the mediators and we did not talk about any new ideas or proposals,” Hamdan said.

He reiterated Hamas’ stance that it was Israel that was rejecting proposals and accused the US administration of going along with its close ally to “evade any commitment” to a blueprint for a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Hamdan also demanded guarantees from mediators to ensure that Israel does not “evade its responsibilities”.

On Tuesday, Egyptian and Qatari mediators said they had received a response from Hamas and other Palestinian groups to the US proposal, although the statement did not clarify what the response entailed.

On May 31, US President Joe Biden laid out what he called a “three-phase” Israeli proposal that would include negotiations for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza as well as phased exchanges of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia fired barrages of rockets at Israel on Wednesday in retaliation for the killing of a senior Hezbollah field commander.

Israel said it had in turn attacked the launch sites from the air.

Taleb Abdallah or Abu Taleb was the most senior Hezbollah commander killed in the conflict, a security source said, and Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine vowed that the group would expand its operations against Israel.

The war in Gaza began on October 7 when militants led by Hamas killed 1200 Israelis and took more than 250 hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s retaliation has caused the deaths of more than 37,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry, displaced most of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, caused widespread hunger, and devastated housing and infrastructure.

A United Nations inquiry concluded that both Israel and Hamas had committed war crimes early in the Gaza war, and that Israel’s actions also constituted crimes against humanity because of the immense civilian losses.

The UN Commission of Inquiry produced two parallel reports, one focusing on the October 7 attacks and another on Israel’s response.

Israel, which did not co-operate, dismissed the findings as the result of anti-Israeli bias.

Hamas did not immediately comment.

As diplomats sought a ceasefire deal, Israel continued assaults in central and southern Gaza that are among the bloodiest of the war.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said Israel will not commit to end its campaign before Hamas is eliminated.

Residents said Israeli forces had pounded areas across Gaza on Wednesday as tanks advanced towards the northern part of the city of Rafah, on the Egyptian border.

Palestinian health officials said six people had been killed in an air strike on Gaza City in the north, and one man had been killed by a tank shell in Rafah.

Footage circulated on social media from Rafah’s “Saudi” neighbourhood, which Reuters had not verified, showed swathes of devastation after tanks retreated.

The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said Israeli forces were also advancing into the area around Rafah from the east, heading towards the sea.

The Israeli military said that in the previous 24 hours it had eliminated militant cells in “close-quarters encounters” in the Rafah area and destroyed structures rigged with explosives.

AAP