US Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned Hamas for refusing a UN-backed cease-fire proposal, saying the terror group could have halted the war in Gaza with a single word.
Speaking from Qatar on Wednesday, Blinken pointed out that the current proposal is nearly identical to the one Hamas itself proposed last month, accusing the terrorists of prolonging the war just to insert more demands that undermine the ongoing peace talks.
“It was a deal that Israel accepted and the world was behind. Hamas could have answered with a single word: ‘Yes,’” Blinken told reporters in Doha.
While he did not go into the specific demands that Hamas is now making, the secretary of state described some of the requests as “workable,” while others were clearly nonstarters.
“At some point in a negotiation, and this has gone back and forth for a long time, you get to a point where if one side continues to change its demands, including making demands and insisting on changes for things that it had already accepted, you have to question whether they’re proceeding in good faith or not,” Blinken said of Hamas.
“It’s time for the haggling to stop and a ceasefire to start. It’s as simple as that,” he added.
Blinken also appeared frustrated that it took so long for Hamas to announce its response after President Biden announced the deal to the world.
“They waited almost two weeks and then proposed more changes, a number of which go beyond positions it has previously presented and agreed to,” Blinken vented.
“As a result, the war will go on and more people will suffer.”
The proposal, which was approved by the UN Security Council on Monday, calls for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza to allow the some 120 hostages in Hamas captivity to be released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Along with the hostage exchange, the deal calls on Israel to withdraw from Gaza’s main population centers and to allow more aid to arrive for Palestinians.
The deal would also allow Palestinians to return to all areas of the Gaza Strip that had been evacuated since the Israeli military began its ground incursion.
Despite Hamas appearing open to the new proposal, it was likely to fall through after Hamas’ top Gaza official, Yahya Sinwar, signaled last week that he would not agree to a compromise with Israel.
Leaked cables show Sinwar — a mastermind of the Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel — views the deaths of innocent Palestinians as “necessary sacrifices” in his quest to make Israel look as bad as possible on the international stage.
Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan claimed it was Israel’s fault the deal fell through, telling pan-Arab Al-Araby TV on Wednesday that it was the Jewish state that allegedly rejected the proposal while accusing America of evading “any commitment” to permanent peace in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reiterated time and again that Israel will not end the war in Gaza until Hamas is destroyed.
Blinken added that American, Qatari and Egyptian negotiators will continue working in the coming days to try and bridge the gaps between Israel and Hamas’ demands.
With Post wires
