The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas said on Wednesday that it would not participate in a new round of ceasefire talks in the Gaza Strip scheduled for Thursday in Qatar. A truce would help deter an Iranian attack on Israel. UNN reports this with reference to Reuters.
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The US said it expects the proximity talks to take place as planned on Thursday in the Qatari capital of Doha and that a ceasefire agreement is still possible. However, Axios reported that US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has postponed a trip to the Middle East that was scheduled to begin on Tuesday.
Three senior Iranian officials have said that only a ceasefire agreement in Gaza will keep Iran from directly retaliating against Israel for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on its territory last month.
Iran may attack Israel if Gaza ceasefire talks fail - Reuters14.08.24, 09:43 • [views_19717]
The Israeli government said it would send a delegation to the talks on Thursday, but Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that controls the Gaza Strip, demanded a plan to implement the proposal it has already accepted, rather than new talks.
"Hamas is committed to the proposal presented to it on July 2, based on the UN Security Council resolution and Biden's speech, and the movement is ready to immediately begin discussing a mechanism for its implementation," said Sami Abu Zuhri, a senior Hamas official.
"The transition to new negotiations will allow the occupiers to impose new conditions and use the maze of negotiations for new massacres," he added.