The Hamas militant group yesterday brushed off a threat by US President Donald Trump and reiterated that it would only free the remaining hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas accused Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of trying to back out of the ceasefire agreement they reached in January last year.
The agreement calls for negotiations over a second phase in which the hostages from Hamas’ attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, would be released in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners, a permanent ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
Photo: AP
Hamas spokesman Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua said that the “best path to free the remaining Israeli hostages” is through negotiations on that phase, which were supposed to begin early last month.
Only limited preparatory talks have been held so far.
On Wednesday, Trump issued what he said was a “last warning” to Hamas after meeting with eight former hostages.
Meanwhile, the White House confirmed that it had held unprecedented direct talks with the militant group, which Israel and Western countries view as a terrorist organization.
“Release all of the Hostages now, not later, and immediately return all of the dead bodies of the people you murdered, or it is OVER for you,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Only sick and twisted people keep bodies, and you are sick and twisted!”
Hamas is believed to still have 24 living hostages taken in the 2023 attacks that triggered the war, including Israeli-American Edan Alexander.
It is also holding the bodies of 34 others who were either killed in the initial attack or in captivity, as well as the remains of a soldier killed in the 2014 war.
Hamas released 25 Israeli hostages and the bodies of eight others in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in the first, 42-day phase of the ceasefire, which ended on Saturday.
Israel supports what it says is a new US plan for the second phase in which Hamas would release half the remaining hostages immediately and the rest when a permanent ceasefire is negotiated.
Hamas has rejected the proposal and says it is sticking with the agreement signed in January last year.
Israel has cut off the delivery of food, fuel, medicine and other supplies to Gaza’s roughly 2 million Palestinians in an attempt to pressure Hamas into accepting the new arrangement.
It has threatened “additional consequences” if Hamas does not resume the release of hostages.
It was unclear if the US-Hamas talks made any progress.
The Trump administration has pledged full support for Israel’s main war goals of returning all the hostages and eradicating Hamas.
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