A senior Hamas representative says the proposed deal they accepted includes the “withdrawal of the occupation of the Gaza Strip.”
Osama Hamdan, a member of Hamas's political bureau, said at a news conference in Beirut that the proposed agreement would guarantee “the main issues of the demands of our people and our resistance to stop the aggression permanently, the withdrawal of the occupation of the entire Gaza Strip, the free return of the displaced, aid, reconstruction, the end of the siege and the achievement of a real and serious exchange agreement.
Hamdan said the three phases of the proposed deal would be implemented continuously, stating that Israel wanted to “complete one phase, in which it would achieve the release of its prisoners held by the resistance, and then resume its aggression against the Gaza Strip.”
Referring to Egypt and Qatar, Hamdan said that “the mediating brothers, if their proposal is approved… will have a role in completing all stages of the agreement and pressuring the occupation to adhere to its provisions and implement them.”
Israel has said there are significant gaps between what Hamas agreed to and what was on the table in previous rounds of negotiations. In a statement Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas's proposal “was designed to torpedo our forces' entry into Rafah. “That didn't happen.”
Netanyahu said that “as the war cabinet unanimously determined, Hamas's proposal was far from Israel's core demands.”
The White House said Tuesday that a close reading of Israel and Hamas' separate negotiating positions on a hostage deal indicates the two sides should be able to reach an agreement.
The comment from national security spokesman John Kirby was a new sign of optimism about the state of the hostage talks after they appeared to stall on Monday. CIA Director Bill Burns was in Cairo on Tuesday to continue talks.
