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 yesterday in what US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called “a hopeful sign.”
Conversations on plans for Gaza after the Israel-Hamas war ends were to continue yesterday afternoon and in the next couple of days, Blinken said in Tel Aviv after talks with Israeli leaders. “It’s imperative that we have these plans.”
Blinken yesterday met Israeli officials in a push to end the eight-month-old Israeli air and ground war against Hamas that has devastated Gaza, a day after US President Joe Biden’s proposal for a truce was approved by the UN Security Council.
Ahead of Blinken’s trip, Israel and Hamas both repeated hardline positions that have undermined previous mediation to end the fighting, while Israel has pressed on with assaults in central and southern Gaza, among the bloodiest of the war.
However, senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri, who is based outside Gaza, yesterday said the group accepted the ceasefire resolution and was ready to negotiate over the details.
It was up to Washington to ensure that Israel abides by it, he added.
He said that Hamas accepted the formula stipulating the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and a swap of hostages held in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners jailed in Israel.
“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 the Hamas statement was “a hopeful sign,” but definitive word was still needed from the Hamas leadership inside Israeli-besieged Gaza. “That’s what counts, and that’s what we don’t have yet.”
The war began when Hamas-led Palestinian militants stormed into southern Israel from Gaza on Oct. 7, killing more than 1,200 people and seizing more than 250 as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s retaliatory air and ground blitz in Gaza has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians, the Gaza health ministry has said, and reduced most of the narrow, coastal enclave to wasteland, with malnutrition widespread.
Biden’s proposal envisages a ceasefire and release of hostages in exchange for Palestinians jailed in Israel in stages, ultimately leading to a permanent end to the war.
Israel has said it would agree only to temporary pauses in the war until Hamas is defeated, while Hamas has countered it would not accept a deal that does not guarantee the war would end.
Blinken, speaking to reporters before departing for Jordan, also said his talks were also addressing day-after plans for Gaza, including security, governance and rebuilding the densely populated enclave.
“We’ve been doing that in consultation with many partners throughout the region. Those conversations will continue... It’s imperative that we have these plans,” he said.
In the Gaza Strip yesterday, Palestinians reacted cautiously to the UN Security Council vote, fearing it could prove yet another ceasefire initiative that would prove fruitless.
“We will believe it only when we see it,” said Shaban Abdel-Raouf, 47, a displaced family of five sheltering in the central city of Deir Al-Balah, a frequent target of Israeli firepower.
“When they tell us to pack our belongings and prepare to go back to Gaza City, we will know it is true,” he told Reuters via a chat app.
When Shanghai-based designer Guo Qingshan posted a vacation photo on Valentine’s Day and captioned it “Puppy Mountain,” it became a sensation in China and even created a tourist destination. Guo had gone on a hike while visiting his hometown of Yichang in central China’s Hubei Province late last month. When reviewing the photographs, he saw something he had not noticed before: A mountain shaped like a dog’s head rested on the ground next to the Yangtze River, its snout perched at the water’s edge. “It was so magical and cute. I was so excited and happy when I discovered it,” Guo said.
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