Israel Stands Firm Against Hamas’ ‘Delirious Demands’: Latest Updates and Negotiations

2024-03-27 06:40:52
Israel stressed that it will not submit to the “delirious demands” of Hamas and that it will continue to operate in the Strip (REUTERS/Mohammed Salem)

Israel has withdrawn its negotiators from Doha following considering that mediation talks on a truce in Gaza are “at a dead end” due to the demands ofHamas, a senior Jewish state official said on Tuesday.

The official, close to the Mossad spy chief leading the talks, accused Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, of sabotaging diplomacy “as part of a broader effort to inflame this war during Ramadan.”

The sides had intensified negotiations, mediated by Qatar and Egypt, on a six-week suspension of the Israeli offensive in exchange for the proposed release of 40 of the 130 hostages the Palestinian group continues to hold in Gaza.

Hamas has tried to make any agreement mean an end to the fighting and the withdrawal of Israeli forces. The Jewish state has ruled this out, saying it will resume efforts to dismantle Hamas’ government and military capabilities.

The militant group also wants hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled Gaza City and its surrounding areas to the south during the first phase of the nearly six-month war to be able to return to the north.

The parties had intensified negotiations, mediated by Qatar and Egypt, on a six-week suspension of the Israeli offensive in exchange for the proposed release of 40 of the 130 hostages (REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins)

The official said Israel had agreed to double the number of Palestinians it would release hostage to 700-800 prisoners and allow some displaced Palestinians to return to northern Gaza.

Hamas has accused Israel of dragging its feet on talks while it carries out its military offensive.

The talks continue as a humanitarian crisis plagues Palestinians in Gaza with severe shortages of food, medicine and hospital care. Concerns are growing that famine will occur.

Earlier on Tuesday, Israel had branded “Delirious” are the demands of Hamas, which demands a “comprehensive” ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the enclave, to seal an agreement.

“Hamas’s position clearly demonstrates that it is not interested in continuing negotiations to reach an agreement, and is an unfortunate testament to the damage of the Security Council’s decision,” said a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.

The Israeli delegation, headed by the head of the Mossad, David Barnea, put on the table a new draft agreement, designed together with the US – the director of the CIA, William Burns, was also in Doha.

“Hamas once once more rejected a proposal that had American support and reiterated its extreme demands: an immediate end to the war, a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and permanence in power to be able to repeat once more and once more. the massacre of October 7 once more,” the Israeli government accused.

Israel stressed that it will not submit to Hamas’ “delusional demands” and that it will continue to operate in the Strip to achieve all of its war objectives: “freeing all abductees, destroying Hamas’s governmental and military capabilities, and ensuring that Gaza does not represents more of a threat to Israel.”

(With information from Reuters and EFE)

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