Hamas officials expressed surprise on Saturday at US President Donald Trump’s accusation that the group “didn’t really want” a ceasefire and hostage release deal for Gaza. Trump made the allegation of Friday a day after Israel and the United States quit indirect negotiations with Hamas in Qatar that had lasted nearly three weeks.
“Trump’s remarks are particularly surprising, especially as they come at a time when progress had been made on some of the negotiation files”, Hamas official Taher al Nunu. “So far, we have not been informed of any issues regarding the files under discussion in the indirect ceasefire negotiations”, he added. Al Nunu, who is close to Hamas’s most senior political officials, said he was “surprised” that Israel and the United States had left the talks. Announcing the recall of US mediators on Thursday, Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff accused Hamas of not “acting in good faith”.
Though not part of the Hamas negotiating team, Hamas politburo member Izzat al Rishq insisted the group had shown “flexibility” in the talks. “The American statements deliberately ignore the real obstructionist to all agreements, Netanyahu’s government, which continues to put obstacles, deceive and evade commitments”, he said. Both Hamas officials called on the United States to be more even-handed in its role as mediator in the quest for a ceasefire after more than 21 months of fighting. “We call for an end to the US bias in favour of Netanyahu, who is obstructing any agreement”, Al Nunu said.
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Saturday spoke to his French and German counterparts and outlined UK plans to get aid to people in Gaza and evacuate sick and injured children, his office said. “The prime minister set out how the UK will also be taking forward plans to work with partners such as Jordan to airdrop aid and evacuate children requiring medical assistance”, a statement said.
In a phone conversation, Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz discussed the humanitarian situation in Gaza “which they agreed is appalling”. “They all agreed it would be vital to ensure robust plans are in place to turn an urgently needed ceasefire into lasting peace”, according to a readout released by Downing Street. “They discussed their intention to work closely together on a plan... which would pave the way to a long-term solution and security in the region.
They agreed that once this plan was worked up, they would seek to bring in other key partners, including in the region, to advance it”, it added. The discussion comes a day after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres slammed the international community for turning a blind eye to widespread starvation in the Gaza Strip, calling it a “moral crisis that challenges the global conscience”. Aid groups have warned of surging cases of starvation, particularly among children, in war-ravaged Gaza, which Israel placed under an aid blockade in March amidst its ongoing war with Hamas. That blockade was partially eased two months later. The trickle of aid since then has been controlled by the Israeli- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
In Gaza, civil defence agency said Israeli operations killed 11 people on Saturday in the Palestinian territory devastated by over 21 months of war. Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said that the toll included four Palestinians killed in an air strike on the Al Rimal neighbourhood of Gaza City in the territory’s north. One other person was killed “after Israeli forces opened fire on people waiting for humanitarian aid” northwest of Gaza City, the agency said.
Eyewitnesses said that several thousand people had gathered in the area to wait for aid. One of them, Abu Samir Hamoudeh, 42, said the Israeli military opened fire “while the people were waiting to approach the distribution point”, located near an Israeli military post in the Zikim area, northwest of Sudaniyah. Another man was killed by a drone strike near the southern city of Khan Yunis, while one was killed by artillery fire in the Al Bureij camp in central Gaza, the civil defence said.
Bassal also said that civil defence teams on Saturday recovered the bodies of 12 people in the area of the Morag Corridor north of Rafah following Israeli bombardment the previous night. — AFP
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