The Wall Street Journal: Qatar threatens to deport Hamas officials if they don’t convince the Gaza leadership to approve the prisoner deal
The Wall Street Journal, reported that a Hamas official and Egyptian official, said that Qatar threatens to deport senior Hamas officials from their headquarters in Doha if they don’t convince their leaders in Gaza to agree to a prisoner exchange deal.
The Wall Street Journal indicated in its report that the mediators are trying to reach a two-day ceasefire next week in an attempt to push towards a broader agreement.
According to the report, Yahya Sinwar, who was largely isolated from the talks until recently, is demanding that Israel commit to discussing a permanent cessation of hostilities, contrary to the opinion of other senior members of the movement.
In response, Hossam Badran, a member of the Hamas political bureau, denied the issuance of such a threat.
Hossam Badran warned that the escalation in the West Bank and Jerusalem would worsen without reaching an agreement, indicating that the movement is ready to continue negotiations.
Badran said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, “We didn’t announce the cessation of negotiations… We’re most keen to stop this war”.
Sarad Badran, who spoke from Doha, described Hamas’ conditions, including a permanent ceasefire that would allow displaced civilians to return to their homes in northern Gaza, the provision of aid at all crossings, a plan to rehabilitate Gaza, and the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Strip.
Arab mediators say that Hamas rejected Israel’s request to provide a list of names of living hostages, while Israel reported that Hamas ignored its demands to provide a list of names of living hostages whom Hamas may be willing to release as part of the deal.
Badran denied this, and stated that there was no official Israeli request for such a list.
According to him, many of the kidnapped people are being held by other factions, including the Islamic Jihad Movement, which makes it difficult to find them.
Badran stated that he does not trust the United States and its ability to act as a fair mediator, given its strong support for Israel, indicating that the movement trusts more the mediation of European countries, including France.
Egyptian officials said the talks, brokered by Egypt, Qatar and the United States, continued for four days this week and were expected to resume in Cairo on Sunday.
