Hamas accepts UN-backed truce, wants more talks
Hamas accepts a UN resolution backing a plan to end the war with Israel in Gaza and is ready to negotiate details, a senior official of the Palestinian militant group said on Tuesday. Qatari and Egyptian mediators said they had received a formal reply from Hamas to the UN-backed truce proposal, and Hamas and its ally Palestinian Islamic Jihad expressed "readiness to positively" reach a deal to end the war in Gaza in a joint statement on Tuesday. However both Israel and Hamas have suggested the plan meets their clashing goals, raising doubts over whether any genuine headway towards a deal can be made. "The Hamas response reaffirmed the group's stance any agreement must end the Zionist aggression on our people, get the Israeli forces out, reconstruct Gaza and achieve a serious prisoners swap deal," a Hamas official said. Discussions also touching on post-war plans for Gaza will continue over the next couple of days, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in Tel Aviv after talks with Israeli leaders. Blinken met Israeli officials on Tuesday in a push to end the eight-month-old Israeli air and ground war against Hamas that has devastated Gaza, a day after President Joe Biden's proposal for a truce was approved by the UN Security Council. Palestinian residents said Israeli forces operating in the southern city of Rafah blew up a cluster of homes on Tuesday and and an Israeli air strike in a main street in Gaza City killed four people, medics said. Biden's proposal envisages a ceasefire and phased release of hostages in exchange for Palestinians jailed in Israel, ultimately leading to a permanent end to the war. On Tuesday, senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri, who is based outside Gaza, said it accepted the ceasefire resolution and was ready to negotiate over the specifics. This required a formula stipulating the total withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and a swap of hostages held in Gaza for Palestinians jailed in Israel, he said. "The US administration is facing a real test to carry out its commitments in compelling the occupation to immediately end the war in an implementation of the UN Security Council resolution," Abu Zuhri said. Blinken said earlier the Hamas statement was "a hopeful sign" but definitive word was still needed from the Hamas leadership inside Israeli-besieged Gaza. (Reuters)