Hamas: US, Israel trying to buy time and commit more massacres

The Biden administration lacks a genuine will to cease-fire in Gaza, pointing to a joint effort by Washington and Tel Aviv to buy time and commit more massacres, Hamas official Osama Hamdan stated on Sunday.

Hamdan mentioned that the current US proposals “do not include a withdrawal from Gaza or even a ceasefire.”

He noted that the movement is still negotiating the “criteria” and that there has been no discussion yet about the names of prisoners.

“A ceasefire must be guaranteed under clear criteria,” he added.

On Saturday, US officials told Axios that Biden aims to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and secure the release of prisoners by the end of next week.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office reported on Saturday that the Israeli negotiating team expressed “cautious optimism” about the possibility of moving forward with a prisoner exchange agreement with Hamas.

On Thursday, a senior Egyptian source confirmed that the Egyptian security delegation participating in the Doha negotiations is making intensive efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement in Gaza.

It’s worth noting that before the latest round of negotiations in Doha, Hamdan announced that Hamas had lost faith in Washington’s ability to mediate a ceasefire in Gaza.