Hamas’ delegation has pulled out of the talks, saying Israel’s “new terms” for a ceasefire deal are invalid.
According to CNN, the delegation in Cairo, Egypt, left for negotiations with Hamas, saying that negotiations can only take place on the resolution proposed by the United States and approved by the United Nations Security Council on July 2.
The Hamas delegation left Cairo on Sunday after meeting with mediators for talks.
After the delegation of Hamas, which represented one side of the Gaza war, left the talks, the possibility of a cease-fire by mediators including the United States to end the war has been further complicated.
Izzat al-Risk, a member of the political bureau of Hamas, informed through a statement that Hamas claimed to only agree to the agreement of July 2 based on the blueprint of US President Biden and the Security Council’s resolution.
Al-Risk stressed that the agreement should include a permanent ceasefire, complete withdrawal of troops from the Gaza Strip, freedom for residents to return to their territories, relief and reconstruction.
Last week, a senior Hamas official, Osama Hamdan, told Al-Aqsa TV that Israel had set new conditions for accepting the agreement and had withdrawn the previous ones, saying that the new conditions were not valid for his group.
According to Hamdan, the new conditions included the reinstatement of Israeli forces in the Philadelphia Corridor along the border with Egypt and non-Palestinian management of the Rafah crossing with Egypt.
Hamas claims that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has hindered the progress of the talks by adding ‘new demands’.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu has insisted that despite the agreement, the war in Gaza will continue until there is a ‘complete victory’ against Hamas.
At least 1,200 people were killed and about 250 people were taken hostage by Hamas in a surprise attack on Israel in October last year.
In return, more than 40,000 people have died in military operations launched by Israel.
Meanwhile, in an operation launched by Israel as an operation against groups close to Hamas, more than 40 launch sites in Lebanon were attacked. On Sunday, the Israeli army said that its warplanes attacked the southern border of Lebanon with thousands of rocket launchers sent by the Hezbollah group targeting northern and central Israel.
“About 100 IAF fighter jets have attacked and destroyed thousands of Hezbollah rocket launcher barrels in southern Lebanon,” the statement issued by the Israeli military said.
Most of them were aimed at northern Israel, while some were aimed at central Israel.
Israel declared a state of emergency for 48 hours amid rising tensions with Lebanon on Saturday after the Hezbollah attack.
