‘Go back to old deal’ – Hamas to skip upcoming ceasefire summit

Hamas will not send representatives to talks later this week, devastating hostages’ families.

By World Israel News Staff

Hamas has announced that it will not send its representatives to an upcoming summit aimed at securing a ceasefire and hostage exchange deal, despite media reports that new Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is interested in an agreement that will end the fighting in the Gaza Strip.

Israel will send a delegation to a new round of talks set to begin this Thursday, August 15th, but the terror group said in a statement that it is not interested in the current discussions, which aim to finalize a framework for a pause in the conflict and release of Israeli hostages who have been held captive for more than 10 months.

In a statement, Hamas said it would only engage in discussions based on a framework presented in early July, to which the terror group had made numerous changes.

Hamas “calls on the mediators to present a plan to implement what was agreed upon by the movement on July 2, 2024, based on Biden’s vision and the UN Security Council resolution,” the terror group said.

“The mediators should enforce this on the occupation [Israel] 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,” the statement added.

The news that Hamas will not join the discussions devastated the family of Karina Ariev, a soldier who was kidnapped on October 7th.

Ariev’s sister, Sasha, told Hebrew-language outlet Mako that she believed that Hamas is skipping the negotiations because they are waiting for Iran and Hezbollah to attack Israel.

“Let them [attack] already,” she said. “We are strong in defense, all the heads of the security establishment and politicians say we’re ready. I want to move forward with the release of the abductees, I want to see my sister at home. Let’s move forward, let’s get through [the attack] and move on to the deal to free the captives.”