Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas’ political bureau, stated that the opportunity exists to reach a multi-phased agreement on a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip if the Israeli government abandons what he called its intransigence, according to the “World Arab News Agency.”
A statement issued by the movement quoted Haniyeh as saying in a statement yesterday (Wednesday) that “(US President Joe) Biden’s stance is changing in rhetoric and is subject to the test of implementation.”
He added: “The US administration is required to take many actions to stop the war of extermination and the starvation policy that our people in Gaza and the north are subjected to.”
Haniyeh continued: “The field and negotiations are two parallel lines… The movement’s negotiations are based on the greatness of steadfastness… and it is striving with all its might to end the aggressive war on our people.”
The United States, Qatar, and Egypt have been mediating truce negotiations between Israel and Hamas since January, where rounds of negotiations were held in Paris, Cairo, and Doha, but these efforts have not yielded an agreement so far.
Previously, Egyptian-Qatari mediation succeeded in stopping the fighting for a week in November, during which Hamas released more than 100 of its detainees, while Israel released about three times that number of Palestinian prisoners.
