Hamas: Blinken’s truce comments aimed at pressuring Palestinian resistance
The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas says its studding a ceasefire proposal from Israel, dismissing pressure from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to accept the "extraordinarily generous" offer.
Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to send Israeli troops into the overpopulated city of Rafah in southern Gaza “with or without” a truce deal. And Blinken is pressuring Hamas to accept a ceasefire.
Following meetings with Israeli leaders, the top US diplomat on Wednesday once again called on Hamas to accept an offer from the Tel Aviv regime that will release Israeli captives and achieve a ceasefire, describing it as “extraordinarily generous.”
Blinken is on his seventh regional tour since Israel waged a full-scale war on Gaza in October.
Later in the day, a senior Hamas official, Sami Abu Zuhri, denounced Blinken’s remarks since they “contradict reality.”
“It is not strange for Blinken, who is known as the foreign minister of Israel, not America, to make such a statement,” Abu Zuhri told Reuters.
“Even the Israeli negotiating team admitted Netanyahu was the one who was hindering reaching an agreement,” he further said, adding, however, that Hamas was still studying the recent ceasefire offer.
Hamas has already stressed that it will reject any ceasefire offer that does not include stopping the Israel’s brutal war against the Gaza Strip. The movement has clearly stated that it seeks a permanent ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian enclave.
Hamas, whose envoys returned from Cairo talks to their base in Qatar, said it would consider a plan for a 40-day ceasefire and the exchange of scores of hostages for larger numbers of Palestinian inmates.
“The occupation’s response that we received through mediators is under study, but it is too early to reach a decision regarding it,” Abu Zuhri said late last week.
He also said at the time that the movement had “assured the brothers in Egypt and Qatar that it is serious about reaching an agreement, but it will not yield to any American pressure.”
Netanyahu says Israel needs to destroy the remaining Hamas formations in Rafah for its own security, with or without a deal with Hamas. Netanyahu has reportedly told Blinken that he would not accept a deal that ends war in Gaza.
Citing to senior American and Israeli officials, Israeli news agency Walla reported that Netanyahu told Blinken that in case Hamas insists on ending the war, the deal will be rejected and the occupying regime will be forced to launch a military offensive in Rafah.
Israel had designated Rafah a “safe zone,” but in recent months it has been threatening a full-scale military aggression, leaving the people sheltering there terrified with nowhere to go.
