Palestinians watch smoke billowing following an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on June 6, 2024. (Credit: Bashar Taleb/AFP)
A senior Hamas official said Thursday that US President Joe Biden's proposed Gaza cease-fire deal was "just words" and the Palestinian militant group had not received any written commitments related to a truce.
The U.S. drafted a U.N. Security Council resolution calling on Hamas to accept the latest proposal, which was introduced by Biden during a surprise White House address last week. The proposal, according to Biden, includes three phases, the first of which is a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from populated areas in Gaza and the release of some hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons. The second phase is a permanent end to the hostilities, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the release of remaining hostages, and phase three would involve a plan for the reconstruction of Gaza.
But Osama Hamdan, a Hamas official based in Beirut, told AFP: "There is no proposal — they are just words said by Biden in a speech."
"So far, the Americans have not presented anything documented or written that commits them to what Biden said in his speech," he said from the Lebanese capital. Both sides of the conflict have said that the terms set out by Biden don’t accurately reflect what has been offered by Israel to Hamas.
UK-based news outlet Middle East Eye viewed a copy of the proposal and reported that it does not offer guarantees for a "permanent" cease-fire or a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. Instead, it has agreed to a "temporary cessation of military operations” for 42 days, which would be followed by open-ended talks to reach a permanent cease-fire.
Hamdan said Biden "tried to cover up the Israeli rejection" of another deal offered earlier in May, which had been approved by Hamas.
He said Hamas was willing to accept any deal that met his movement's core demands of a permanent cease-fire in Gaza and the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the territory.
In his first response to the truce proposal, Hamas’ leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, told mediators on Thursday that he would accept the deal only if Israel commits to a permanent cease-fire, Wall Street Journal reported.
“Hamas will not surrender its guns or sign a proposal that asks for that,” Qatari and Egyptian mediators said Sinwar told them in a brief message.
Shortly after Biden unveiled the plan, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the roadmap was only "partial."
The United States, along with Qatar and Egypt, have been engaged in months of negotiations over details for a ceasefire in Gaza.
But except for a seven-day pause beginning in November, which led to the release of more than 100 hostages, there has been no break in the fighting.
The war in Gaza was sparked by the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures. Militants also took 251 hostages, 120 of whom remain in Gaza, including 41 the army says are dead.
Israel's military offensive on Gaza has since killed at least 36,654 people, also mostly civilians, according to the enclave's health ministry.
The U.S. drafted a U.N. Security Council resolution calling on Hamas to accept the latest proposal, which was introduced by Biden during a...
