Official: Hamas rejects new Israeli conditions in Gaza ceasefire talks

The Palestinian Resistance Movement, Hamas has officially rejected the new conditions set by Israel to conclude a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

On Sunday, the latest round of talks held in the Egyptian capital, Cairo faltered and the Israeli and Hamas delegations left without reaching an agreement.

Key sticking points in the ongoing talks mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar include an Israeli presence in the so-called Philadelphi Corridor, a narrow 14.5 km-long stretch of land along Gaza’s southern border with Egypt.

The Israeli delegation has reportedly proposed to redeploy its forces inside the Strip, while maintaining a permanent presence in 12 deployment points, most of them in the north of the Strip, in addition to the Netzarim axis.

Hamas said Israel has backtracked on a 2 July commitment to withdraw troops from the Corridor and put forward other new conditions, including the screening of displaced Palestinians as they return to the enclave’s more heavily populated north when the ceasefire begins.

“We will not accept discussions about retractions from what we agreed to on 2 July or new conditions,” a senior Hamas official, Osama Hamdan told the group’s Al-Aqsa TV Sunday. Hamdan also said Hamas has handed to mediators its response to the latest proposal, saying the US claim of an imminent deal is false.

READ: Hamas slams US statements as ‘coup’ against 2 July agreement