Hamas Calls for Return to Original Cease-Fire Plan

Hamas has called for a return to the original cease-fire plan proposed by President Joe Biden on May 31, Al Jazeera reported Sunday.

Hamas seeks a cease-fire plan "based on Biden's May 31 cease-fire proposal, the framework laid out by mediators Qatar and Egypt on May 6, and U.N. Security Council Resolution 2735," the group wrote on its Telegram account, according to Al Jazeera.

This statement was taken secondhand from Al Jazeera due to the fact that ostensibly — all — of the terror group's social media accounts have been blocked by social media companies in the West. Hamas' own "official" Telegram account was not accessible through multiple VPNs in different countries.

Hamas added that "the mediators should enforce this [May 6 proposal] on the occupation instead of pursuing further rounds of negotiations or new proposals that would provide cover for the occupation's aggression and grant it more time to continue its genocide against our people."

Al Jazeera's Hamdah Salhut said that Israeli media outlets are interpreting the Hamas statement as an outright rejection of the cease-fire talks. And on Sunday, Axios reported Hamas saying it "won't take part in Gaza hostage-cease-fire deal talks."

Salhut said that Hamas "did not say that. They're merely calling on mediators to put the original proposal that they had agreed to, on the table."

On Saturday, Hamas spokesman Jihad Taha said the group is "studying" the framework for these cease-fire talks.

"The one obstructing the success of the last proposal is the Israeli occupation," Taha said. "Closing the remaining gaps in the cease-fire agreement comes through exerting real pressure on the Israeli side, which was, and still is, practising a policy of placing obstacles in the way of the success of any efforts and endeavours leading to ending the aggression," he added.

During an interview on Israel's Hebrew-language Channel 14 on June 23, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would not agree to any deal that stipulated an end to Israel's war on Gaza without the full defeat of Hamas, The Times of Israel reported. However, Israel did say it would send negotiators to take part in the cease-fire meeting on Aug. 15.

During Netanyahu's interview, the prime minister said, "We are obligated to continue the fighting after a pause in order to complete our goal of destroying Hamas. I'm not prepared to give up on that."

Still, during the interview, Netanyahu stipulated that the war would continue despite a prospective Hamas defeat.

"The intense phase of the fighting against Hamas is about to end. It doesn't mean that the war is about to end, but the war in its intense phase is about to end in Rafah," he said.

"After the end of the intense phase" in Gaza, Israel will "redeploy some forces to the north … primarily for defensive purposes."

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