The Palestinian movement Hamas and its allied groups confirmed that they are ready to evaluate proposals for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip if they meet their demands.
This happened during a meeting of representatives of the leaders of Palestinian organizations in Cairo, according to a press release published on Hamas' Telegram channel.
“The Palestinian factions are ready to consider any initiatives on the issue of a ceasefire in Gaza that meet the demands of the Palestinians and include a cessation of hostilities in the strip, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from there and the lifting of the blockade of the enclave“, the statement said. In this regard, Hamas and its allies thanked Egypt and Qatar for their “colossal efforts aimed at resuming the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza“.
The radical organizations claim that during the last round of talks in Doha, the parties “almost reached a serious agreement“, but the Israeli delegation left the Qatari capital, thus disrupting the consultations. Hamas and its allied groups believe that Israel's decision was “unwise“.
On August 14, the “Asharq Al-Awsat“ newspaper, citing a source in the movement, reported that the information about “a comprehensive agreement“, on which the mediators are working, is exaggerated and inaccurate. According to him, Hamas remains committed to the Egyptian plan for governing the Gaza Strip and "is ready to form a committee in coordination with Egypt to monitor the withdrawal of Israeli troops."
A Hamas delegation, led by the leader of the movement in the Gaza Strip, Khalil al-Heya, arrived in Cairo on Tuesday at the invitation of the Egyptian side. On the same day, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Atty said that Cairo, in coordination with Doha and Washington, which act as mediators between the Palestinian Hamas movement and Israel, is working to return the parties to the conflict to the proposal for a 60-day ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
On Wednesday, the Egyptian television channel Al-Qahira Al-Ikhbariya reported, citing its source, that a Hamas delegation met with Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Rashid in Cairo and expressed its interest in returning to ceasefire and truce talks as soon as possible.
The negotiation process between Hamas and Israel was interrupted last month in Qatar. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the delegation to be recalled from Doha, where talks to resolve the conflict in Gaza have been taking place since July 6, due to the radicals' reaction to the ceasefire proposal. The United States also decided to withdraw negotiators from Doha "following Hamas' latest response, which clearly shows a lack of desire to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza." For their part, Palestinian radicals expressed disagreement with this assessment of the US President's special envoy, Stephen Witkoff, and announced that other mediators had "approved the response provided and called it constructive."