Hamas: US spreading ‘false hope’ on ceasefire chances

Hamas says Washington pushing for ceasefire due to upcoming presidential election, terror group reiterates its unwillingness to compromise.

By World Israel News Staff

The U.S. is still “feverishly” working towards a ceasefire and hostage deal, according to a Biden administration official, despite repeated statements from Hamas that it will not compromise on a number of conditions which are non-starters for Israel.

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday that Washington believes a Gaza truce is the key to lowering tensions and avoiding a regional war in the Middle East.

“Senior level talks in Cairo over recent days, including with representatives from Hamas and Israel, have been constructive and were conducted in a spirit on all sides to reach a final and implementable agreement,” an unnamed American official told Axios.

“The process will continue over the coming days through working groups to further address remaining issues and details,” they added.

Since the resumption of negotiations last week, U.S. officials have made a number of public statements imbued with optimism, which have been quickly shot down by Hamas.

On Sunday evening, Hamas officially rejected a new proposal that had been presented by Washington.

Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan told Al-Aqsa TV, an outlet affiliated with the terror group, that “Israel has set new conditions for accepting the agreement and reverted from what it had previously agreed to. Today the delegation informed the mediators of our position. We will not accept any withdrawals from what we agreed to on July 2 or any new demands.”

He added that “the U.S. administration is sowing false hopes by talking about an agreement that is close, while this is only for election purposes.”

Bassem Naim, a spokesman for the terror group, told Newsweek that the U.S. was “buying time” with the negotiations, explaining that the Americans are pushing hard for discussions in order “to cool the regional front.”

Naim added that the second reason the Americans are so focused on the deal, despite Hamas’ unwillingness to compromise, is because the Democratic party needs “a ceasefire deal for internal reasons related to the elections.”