Hamas accuses Netanyahu of trying to 'thwart' Gaza truce

AFP , Thursday 5 Sep 2024

Hamas on Thursday accused Benjamin Netanyahu of trying to "thwart" a Gaza truce deal, after the Israeli Prime Minister claimed the Palestinian group has "rejected everything" in negotiations.

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Children attend a class at a tent amidst the rubble of collapsed buildings in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.AFP

 

Hamas said a new deal is unnecessary because they agreed months ago to a truce outlined by US President Joe Biden.

"We do not need new proposals," the group said on Telegram.

"We warn against falling into the trap of Netanyahu and his tricks, who uses negotiations to prolong the aggression against our people," the Hamas statement added.

Netanyahu claimed on Wednesday that Israel is trying to find some area to begin the negotiations.

"They (Hamas) refuse to do that... (They said) there's nothing to talk about."

He also recycled on his wardrobe of myths and lies on why Israel cannot withdraw its troops from the 14-km-long Philadelphi corridor along the borders between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.

In an English-language press conference with foreign reporters, he reaffirmed “the centrality of the Philadelphi corridor” to "the arming of Hamas," which he argued "led to the October 7 massacre."

Immediately after Netanyahu finished his presser, a high-level Egyptian source said the Israeli Prime Minister was spreading lies to cover up his failure in Gaza, according to Al-Qahera News.

“The Israeli Prime Minister’s promotion of arms smuggling from Egypt is another lie to justify his government’s failure to control arms smuggling from Israel to the Gaza Strip,” said the source.

“Israel failed to eliminate the arms smuggling mafia from Karm Abu Salem to the Gaza Strip,” the source added.

Hamas is also demanding complete Israeli withdrawal from the area and on Thursday said Netanyahu's insistence on the border zone "aims to thwart reaching an agreement."

At Israeli protests in several cities this week, Netanyahu's critics have blamed him for captives' deaths, saying he has refused to make necessary concessions for striking a ceasefire deal.

Key mediator Qatar said on Tuesday that Israel's approach was "based on an attempt to falsify facts and mislead world public opinion by repeating lies".

Such moves "will ultimately lead to the demise of peace efforts," Qatar's foreign ministry said.

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters that Washington thinks "there are ways to address" the impasse.

 Massacres continue

Widespread Israeli bombardment overnight into Thursday included a strike which killed four people sheltering in tents near Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, a medical source told AFP.

In a separate stike in the southern Al-Mawasi area, a missile killed one and wounded several others, Palestinian Red Crescent Society medics said.

Polio vaccination drive

Israel's bombardment of Gaza has left the territory in ruins, with the destruction of water and sanitation infrastructure blamed for the spread of disease.

The humanitarian crisis has led to Gaza's first polio case in 25 years, prompting a massive vaccination effort launched Sunday with localised "humanitarian pauses" in fighting.

Nearly 200,000 children in central Gaza have received a first dose, the World Health Organization said, with a second stage set to get underway Thursday in the south before medics move north.

The campaign aims to fully vaccinate more than 640,000 children, with second doses due in about four weeks.

*The story has been edited by Ahram Online

 

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