A top Hamas political official told The Associated Press the Islamic militant group is willing to agree to a truce of five years or more with Israel and that it would lay down its weapons and convert into a political party if an independent Palestinian state is established along pre-1967 borders.
The comments by Khalil al-Hayya in an interview Wednesday came amid a stalemate in months of cease-fire talks. The suggestion that Hamas would disarm appeared to be a significant concession by the militant group officially committed to Israel’s destruction.
But it’s unlikely Israel would consider such a scenario. It has vowed to crush Hamas following the deadly October 7 attacks that triggered the war, and its current leadership is adamantly opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state on lands Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war.
Al-Hayya, a high-ranking Hamas official who has represented the Palestinian militants in negotiations for a cease-fire and hostage exchange, struck a sometimes defiant and other times conciliatory tone.
Sponsor A War Children Today:
SaveWorldChildren.org
Speaking to the AP in Istanbul, Al-Hayya said Hamas wants to join the Palestine Liberation Organization, headed by the rival Fatah faction, to form a unified government for Gaza and the West Bank. He said Hamas would accept “a fully sovereign Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the return of Palestinian refugees in accordance with the international resolutions,” along Israel’s pre-1967 borders.
If that happens, he said, the group’s military wing would dissolve.
Air Force fighter jets gave attacked in the center of the Gaza Strip, targeting terrorists who were preparing to shoot rockets into Israel, the IDF Spokespersons Unit says.
Israel’s war cabinet will convene on Thursday to discuss efforts for the renewal of negotiations between Israel and Hamas which will lead to the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
Negotiations have reached an impasse over the last two weeks, with Israel accusing Hamas of hardening its position.
The government will be presented with different plans to restart negotiations by a team headed by Mossad chief David Barnea and Maj. Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon.
A diplomatic source involved in the talks told Haaretz that one of the options under considerations is pushing for reaching an agreement which will include the release of all hostages in one go in exchange for a mass release of Palestinian prisoners, instead of the gradual plans discussed so far.
An Israeli official said that this option may be under consideration, but it is still far from realization. According to him, a decision on the matter is expected to raise significant difficulties in the government.
The Palestinian Health Ministry has announced the death of a 16-year-old by IDF fire in Ramallah, in the West Bank. According to a report by WAFA, the boy, Khaled Arouq, was hit during confrontations with army force who were in the city to perform a series of arrests.
The IDF reported that Air Force fighter jets attacked Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon on Wednesday. According to the army, the targets included targets in the area of Maroun al-Ras, an observation post in the Markaba area and a Hezbollah military structure in the Alma al-Sha’ab area.
It was also reported that the IDF fired artillery on Wednesday at several areas in southern Lebanon, in order “to remove threat[s],” according to the statement.
Police peacefully arrested student protesters at the University of Southern California on Wednesday, hours after police at a Texas university aggressively detained dozens in the latest clashes between law enforcement and those protesting the Israel-Hamas war on campuses nationwide.
While tensions rose between police and protesters at USC earlier in the day, in the evening a few dozen demonstrators standing in a circle with locked arms were detained one by one without incident.
Police officers encircled the dwindling group, which sat in defiance of an earlier warning to disperse or be arrested. Beyond the police line, hundreds of onlookers watched as helicopters buzzed overhead. The school closed the campus.
While universities struggling to defuse unrest have quickly turned to law enforcement, the arrests in California were in sharp contrast to the chaos that ensued just hours earlier at the University of Texas at Austin, where hundreds of local and state police pushed into protesters, arresting 34.
■ At least 20 pro-Palestinian protesters were taken into custody on Wednesday at the University of Texas at the request of university officials and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, according to the state Department of Public Safety.
■ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the protests in American universities against Israel, saying they are “reminiscent of what happened in German universities in the 1930s,” and called for university leadership and authorities to take harsher steps against them.
■ Hundreds of protesters, among them friends of American-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin gathered outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s official residence in Jerusalem after Hamas released a video showing Goldberg-Polin in captivity.
■ CNN reported that the Biden administration received the video documentation of hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, on Monday, two days before Hamas released it, according to an American source, who said the FBI is examining the video for intel.
■ A coalition vessel intercepted an anti-ship ballistic missile launched by the Houthis over the Gulf of Aden, likely targeting the U.S. ship, MV Yorktown, the U.S. Central Command reported early Thursday. On Wednesday, a Houthis spokesperson announced the group had attacked two American ships and an Israeli ship.
■ A Peruvian judge ordered 18 months of preventative detention for an Iranian and two Peruvian men while they are investigated for allegedly attempting to kill two Israelis living in the South American country.
■ U.S. officials have been in touch with Israeli counterparts about deeply disturbing reports of mass graves being found in Gaza, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Wednesday.
■ Israel’s foreign ministry said that Germany’s decision to resume cooperation with UNRWA in Gaza is “regrettable and disappointing” and “will not contribute to promoting the security and welfare of the residents of the region, both Israelis and Palestinians alike.”
■ Israel’s war cabinet will convene on Thursday to discuss efforts for the renewal of negotiations between Israel and Hamas for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
For updates from day 201 of the war in Gaza, click here.
This post was originally published on 3rd party site mentioned in the title this site