On Monday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken blamed Hamas negotiators for causing the impasse in the latest ceasefire negotiations — but Hamas said that this is another of the Biden administration’s “misleading claims” aimed at “buying time” for Israel to continue its genocide in Gaza.
In a press conference after a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Blinken said that Netanyahu has agreed to a “bridging proposal” that reportedly contains many of Israel’s demands. Israeli leaders have been extremely explicit in their opposition to stopping their assault, and have also put new conditions on the prisoner swap and demanded permanent control over Gaza’s border with Egypt.
“The next important step is for Hamas to say ‘yes,’” said Blinken.
In a statement, Hamas criticized Blinken and said that he is showing “blind bias” toward Israel and “merely buying time for Israel to continue its genocide,” per Al Jazeera.
Rather, Hamas officials said that, if Israel agreed to a deal, it means that U.S. negotiators have ceded significant ground to Israel in the talks and moved away from Biden’s three-phase ceasefire proposal.
“The Israelis have retreated from issues included in Biden’s proposal. Netanyahu’s talk about agreeing to an updated proposal indicates that the U.S. administration has failed to convince him to accept the previous agreement,” Hamas spokesperson Osama Hamdan told Al Jazeera.
Hamas negotiators have been clear that they support that proposal, which includes a permanent ceasefire, swapping of all Israeli and Palestinian detainees, withdrawal of Israeli troops and a process to allow Palestinians to return to their homes in Gaza — if they’re still standing.
Blinken’s statements were misleading in another way, reports find. Since Biden’s proposal was first unveiled in May, Netanyahu has only toughened his position on the talks, The New York Times reported on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Axios reported that Blinken’s statement was confusing to Israeli officials, who said that Netanyahu’s position is what is obstructing talks.
“Netanyahu endorsed the U.S. proposal — which incorporated several of his updated demands — knowing Hamas would reject it,” Axios reported, citing senior Israeli officials.
This is part of a long pattern of Netanyahu sabotaging ceasefire talks. Israeli outlet Haaretz reported earlier this year that Netanyahu has been deliberately obstructing talks for at least eight months, taking hard lines that almost always include a continuation of the genocide. Even Biden himself said in June that there is “every reason” for people to believe that Netanyahu is prolonging the genocide to protect his own political career — seemingly acknowledging that Israel is not acting as a serious participant in the talks. Meanwhile, as the ceasefire talks have paved the way for Israel to continue its assault, Israel has killed thousands more Palestinians in its bombing, famine and disease campaign. It has pushed the region into a polio epidemic, slaughtered thousands of children, and destroyed yet more houses, markets and shelters while placing nearly the entirety of Gaza under forced evacuation — all with full-throated U.S. backing.
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