BEIRUT: The Palestinian resistance group Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh on Wednesday accused Israel of procrastinating in stalled talks to secure a ceasefire in the besieged Gaza Strip and a hostage release deal.
In a recorded speech aired at a Hezbollah meeting on Wednesday, Haniyeh expressed frustration over Israel’s reluctance to engage constructively in the negotiations. He criticized Israel’s persistent procrastination and failure to respond to what he described as the fair demands of the Palestinian side to end the ongoing conflict and aggression.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced on Tuesday that Israel’s negotiating team had returned from discussions in Cairo, facilitated by Egyptian mediators. However, senior Hamas official Bassem Naim contradicted this statement, asserting that the group had not received any new proposals from the mediators or Israel regarding a ceasefire or a prisoner exchange deal.
Haniyeh reiterated Hamas’s conditions for peace, which include a permanent ceasefire, a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the return of displaced Gazans, unhindered entry of humanitarian aid, comprehensive reconstruction of the war-ravaged territory, and a “respectable prisoner exchange deal.”
Furthermore, Haniyeh denounced the “direct American participation” in the conflict in Gaza, accusing the United States of supplying weapons and ammunition to the Israeli military.
