Hamas says Israeli hostages can be freed only if Gaza conflict ends
21/11/2024 6:19
Hamas' acting Gaza chief
Khalil al-Hayya said in remarks broadcast on Wednesday that
there would be no hostages-for-prisoners swap deal with Israel
unless the war in the Palestinian enclave ended.
"Without an end to the war, there can be no prisoner swap,"
Hayya said in a televised interview with the group's Al-Aqsa
television channel, reiterating the group's position on how to
bring the war to an end.
"If the aggression is not ended, why would the resistance
and in particular Hamas, return the prisoners (hostages)?" he
said. "How would a sane or an insane person lose a strong card
he owns while the war is continuing?"
Hayya, who led the group's negotiating team in talks with
Qatari and Egyptian mediators, blamed the lack of progress on
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who in turn holds
the Islamist group responsible for the stalled talks.
"There are contacts under way with some countries and
mediators to revive this file (negotiation). We are ready to
continue with those efforts but it is more important to see a
real will on the side of the occupation to end the aggression,"
said Hayya.
"The reality proves that Netanyahu is the one who undermines
it (negotiations)," he added.
Speaking during a visit to Gaza on Tuesday, Netanyahu said
that Hamas would not rule the Palestinian enclave after the war
had ended and that Israel had destroyed the Islamist group's
military capabilities.
HAMAS WELCOMES EGYPT'S GAZA POST-WAR PROPOSAL
Netanyahu also said Israel had not given up trying to locate
the 101 remaining hostages believed to be still in the enclave,
and he offered a $5 million reward for the return of each one.
Hamas wants a deal that ends the war and sees the release of
Israeli and foreign hostages held captive in Gaza as well as
Palestinians jailed by Israel, while Netanyahu vowed the war can
only end once Hamas is eradicated.
Qatar, a key ceasefire mediator alongside Egypt, said it had
informed Hamas and Israel that it would stall its mediation
efforts unless the two warring parties showed "willingness and
seriousness" to reach a deal.
On Nov. 19, Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson Majed
Al-Ansari said the political office of Hamas in Doha had not
been permanently closed.
Earlier this month Reuters quoted a U.S. official saying
Washington had asked Qatar to expel the group and that Doha had
passed this message on to Hamas.
Al-Ansari said the Hamas office had been created to
facilitate mediation efforts to end the Gaza war.
Hayya said Hamas had welcomed an Egyptian proposal for Hamas
to form an administrative committee with the rival Fatah
movement of President Mahmoud Abbas to run the Gaza Strip, a
move that addresses the outstanding question of how the enclave
would be run when the fighting stops.
But an agreement has yet to be finalised, Hayya said. Israel
rejects any Hamas role in governing Gaza after the war and
neither does it trust Abbas' Palestinian Authority to take over
running the enclave.
The 2023 attack on Israel, which shattered Israel's aura of
invincibility, marked the country's bloodiest day in its
history, with 1,200 people killed and over 250 taken hostage,
according to Israeli tallies.
Israel responded with its most destructive offensive in
Gaza, killing nearly 44,000 people and wounding 103,898,
according to the Gaza health ministry, and turning the enclave
into a wasteland of rubble with millions desperate for food,
fuel, water, and sanitation.
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