Hamas to continue Gaza cease-fire negotiations under Sinwar: Group leader

ISTANBUL

Hamas will continue Gaza cease-fire negotiations after the selection of Yahya Sinwar as its new political chief, a group leader said on Wednesday.

"The negotiations were managed by the leadership, and Sinwar was not far from the negotiation process. He was part of its details,” Osama Hamdan told Anadolu.

Hamas named Sinwar as its new political chief on Tuesday to succeed Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Tehran on July 31.

Hamas and Iran have accused Israel of carrying out Haniyeh’s assassination, but Tel Aviv has not confirmed or denied responsibility.

“The negotiation process will continue,” Hamdan affirmed.

“The problem was not Hamas, but Israel, (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu, and the US, which was not sincere in its mediation or in its attempt to push for a cease-fire.

For months, the US, Qatar and Egypt have been trying to reach an agreement between Israel and Hamas to ensure a prisoner exchange and cease-fire and allow humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip.

But the mediation efforts have been stalled due to Netanyahu’s refusal to meet Hamas’s demands to stop the war.

‘Flexible’ Sinwar

Hamdan said Hamas will remain committed to working for a cease-fire in Gaza, full Israeli withdrawal, ending the siege, rebuilding the enclave and swapping prisoners.

Sinwar “will continue moving in this direction,” he added.

“Sinwar has a high degree of flexibility in managing public affairs and preserves the rights of the Palestinian people.”

Sinwar is on Israel’s kill list, with Tel Aviv accusing him of masterminding the group’s Oct. 7 attack last year, which prompted Israel to launch a devastating military campaign in the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 39,600 people, according to local health authorities.

Hamas has been flexible in talks to reach a cease-fire deal in Gaza, Hamdan said.

“Netanyahu knows well that his attempts for evading will not work,” he said.

"If assassinating Haniyeh was one of Netanyahu's goals to change the course of the negotiations, he is delusional. The basis of the negotiations is fixed, and the men who negotiated under Haniyeh will continue to work with Sinwar, who was present in all the details of the negotiations."

On Monday, the foreign ministers of Qatar, Egypt and the US held separate talks to discuss their mediation efforts and the importance of reaching a cease-fire in Gaza.

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an attack last October by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

Over 10 months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar