Hamas stands by demand for end to Gaza war under hostage deal, as Trump deadline approaches
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Hamas says it will free its remaining hostages only if Israel agrees to end the war and withdraw all its troops from Gaza.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
JERUSALEM/CAIRO – Hamas stood by its demand on Jan 7 that Israel fully end its assault on Gaza under any deal to release hostages, and said US President-elect Donald Trump was rash to say there would be “hell to pay” unless they go free by his Jan 20 inauguration.
Officials from the Islamist group and Israel have been holding talks with Qatari and Egyptian mediators in the most intensive effort for months to reach a ceasefire in Gaza.
The outgoing US administration has called for a final push for a deal before President Joe Biden leaves office, and many in the region now view Trump’s inauguration as an unofficial deadline.
But with the clock ticking, both sides accuse the other of blocking a deal by adhering to conditions that torpedoed all previous peace efforts for more than a year.
Hamas says it will free its remaining hostages only if Israel agrees to end the war and withdraw all its troops from Gaza.
Israel says it will not end the war until Hamas is dismantled and all hostages are free.
“Hamas is the only obstacle to the release of the hostages,” Mr Eden Bar Tal, the director-general of Israel’s Foreign Ministry, told a briefing with reporters, saying Israel was fully committed to reaching a deal.
Hamas official Osama Hamdan, who held a news conference in Algiers, said Israel was to blame for undermining all efforts to reach a deal.
While he said he would not give details about the latest round of negotiations, he reiterated the Hamas conditions of “a complete end to the aggression and a full withdrawal from lands the occupation invaded”.
Commenting on Trump’s threat that there would be “hell to pay”
Israel has sent a team of mid-ranking officials to Qatar for talks brokered by Qatari and Egyptian mediators.
Some Arabic media reports said Mr David Barnea, the head of Mossad, who has been leading negotiations, was expected to join them.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office did not comment.
In one notable step towards a deal, a Hamas official told Reuters on Jan 5 that the group had cleared a list submitted by Israel of 34 hostages who could be freed in the initial phase of a truce, alongside Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
The list included female Israeli soldiers, plus elderly, female and minor-aged civilians.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel had so far received no confirmation about whether those on its list were still alive.
Strikes kill 10 Palestinians
Nearly 46,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s assault on Gaza, according to health officials in the enclave.
The assault was launched after Hamas fighters stormed Israeli territory in October 2023
Israeli military strikes killed at least 10 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Jan 7, medics said, as the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory urged international donors to immediately provide fuel to maintain medical services.
One of those strikes killed four people in a house in Beach camp in Gaza City, while the remaining six were killed in separate strikes across the enclave, medics said.
The Health Ministry said hospitals were running out of fuel to operate generators and maintain medical services across Gaza because of Israeli restrictions.
Israel has repeatedly said it facilitated the delivery of fuel and medical supplies to hospitals in the enclave, even in areas where forces have active operations.
On Jan 7, the military said the 240 Palestinians its forces had detained in a raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza in December had provided “substantial intelligence”.
The military released footage of the interrogation of a purported Hamas militant, who detailed how militants “operated from the hospital area” and transferred weapons to and from it.
Hamas and the Health Ministry deny any armed presence at the hospital. REUTERS
