Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan said today that the Palestinian Islamic organization is not interested in releasing the hostages “only to be bombed by Israel again later.” He also expressed Hamas’ interest in reconciling with rival Fatah in post-war Gaza.
Hamdan told Qatar TV Al Jazeera that the organization’s priority is a permanent ceasefire. As he said, Israel will “start a new round of mass killing” after the release of the hostages, but “we will not play that game”.
He added that Hamas is however ready “for a big compromise” if the war stops.
Hamdan claims that Hamas has repeatedly offered Fatah to make decisions together and said that the Palestinian Authority of President Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of Fatah, is to blame for this not happening.
“We are open to talk with him and all Palestinian factions,” Hamdan said, explaining that the priority was “stopping the aggression,” and then talking about the Palestinian territories, the West Bank – parts of which are controlled by the Palestinian Authority, which is recognized by the West, and Gaza – which ruled by Hamas, in order to establish one political system, one Palestinian Authority.
Fatah’s alliance with Hamas, which the US, the EU and Israel consider a terrorist organization, could trigger US sanctions against the Palestinian Authority, according to Israeli media.
The US has said it wants a revitalized Palestinian Authority to run Gaza and supports Israel’s efforts to destroy Hamas.
Hamas leader Ismal Haniyeh arrived in Cairo today for negotiations on Gaza, the organization announced at a time when signals are coming from both it and Israel in support of a new truce in the war. During a week-long ceasefire in late November, Hamas released 105 hostages in exchange for the release of 240 Palestinian women and minors from Israeli prisons.
An additional 129 hostages are believed to be still being held in Gaza. In attacks by Palestinian extremists led by Hamas on October 7, 240 people were kidnapped from southern Israel, Beta writes.
(Photo: BBC/archive)
