Hamas: Talks on ceasefire in Gaza remain fruitless

In his opinion, US President Joe Biden's optimism about the outcome of the talks in Qatar does not reflect the true situation.

“The Biden administration is trying to show that the environment is positive. But the first round has shown that there is no improvement,” he explained.

“The mediators told us that the issues had not been resolved and [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu has added further conditions and made the matter even more complicated,” the Hamas spokesman continued.

Hamas official Osama Hamdan also told Al Jazeera that “everyone understands” that Netanyahu and his government are now unwilling to reach a ceasefire agreement.

“In the two-day negotiations, the Israelis rejected the paper presented by the Americans on June 24 based on Biden's initiative and the Security Council resolution, which also takes into account the Israeli points,” he said.

“They rejected it even though Hamas had accepted it. After two days of negotiations, they are against the paper and have new ideas that were not discussed before,” he added.

“We must remember that the main obstacle to an agreement was Netanyahu, as the Israeli army minister said. He was and is the obstacle.”

Biden said on Friday that “we are closer than ever to a ceasefire agreement in Gaza,” “but we are not there yet,” as talks in the region have been paused until next week.

He told reporters that while he was “optimistic” about the prospect of an agreement, there was no guarantee.

Negotiations on a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip in Doha were suspended on Friday. Negotiators will meet again next week to reach an agreement to end the war in the blockaded territory.

In a joint statement, the United States, Qatar and Egypt said Washington had put forward a new proposal that builds on the agreements reached last week and closes gaps in a way that could enable rapid implementation of an agreement.

The mediators would continue to work on the proposal in the coming days, they added.

The current round of talks began on Thursday amid growing fears of a regional war after Israel killed a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut and Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran.

The total death toll from Israel's campaign of death, destruction and genocide in the Gaza Strip has surpassed the grim mark of 40,000, the Gaza Strip Health Ministry said on Thursday.