A Hamas representative in Lebanon confirmed to CBS News that a delegation from the militant group will not be present at the attempt on Thursday. to resume ceasefire negotiations with Israel, and said Hamas had received no guarantees that Israel would commit to negotiations based on an earlier July 2 proposal.
“We are not against the concept of negotiations and we were flexible in the previous rounds,” Ahmad Abdul Hadi, Hamas’s representative in Lebanon, said in a statement to CBS News Tuesday. “But Netanyahu and his government rejected (the July 2 proposal), they set new conditions, they assassinated the head of our movement,” referring to the murder of Ismail Haniyehthe head of Hamas’ political wing, in the Iranian capital Tehran late last month. Haniyeh was Hamas’s chief negotiator in the ceasefire talks.
“Therefore, we will not participate” in the August 15 talks, Abdul Hadi added, “and we will go back to square one.”
Hamas has indicated it is prepared to talk to mediators after Thursday’s talks in Qatar if Israel comes up with a “serious response,” a diplomat with knowledge of the talks said.
“We are serious about reaching an agreement because it is our responsibility to end the massacres and famine that the occupiers are inflicting on our people,” Abdul Hadi said.
On Sunday, Israel indicated that it would attend upcoming negotiations, and on Monday, Hamas issued its first statement suggesting that it would not participate in the talks, citing many previous rounds of negotiations and pointing to the July 2 proposal as a basis for moving forward. In Tuesday’s statement confirming that it would not participate, Hamas also accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of not acting in good faith and of war in Gaza and expand it to the Middle East.
Iran and its allies blame Israel for Haniyeh’s killing, as well as a air raid last month in Beirut, where Hezbollah’s senior military commander Fuad Shukr was killed — a top Hezbollah leader and adviser to Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah. Israel has claimed credit for Shukr’s killing, but not Haniyeh’s.
Leaders and top officials of Western countries, including the US, UK, Germany, France and the Vatican, have tried to dissuade Iran from retaliating against Israel.
Iran’s new President Mahmoud Pezeshkian responded that retaliation is a “right” to stop further Israeli aggression.
If Iran and Hezbollah were to launch attacks, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert speculated to CBS News that the Israeli military would launch counterattacks, potentially plunging the entire region into all-out war and drawing in countries from the Middle East and the West.
John Kirby, White House national security spokesman told reporters Monday that the Biden administration is preparing for a possible attack on Israel by Iran and its allies as early as this week, while U.S. officials told CBS News that a limited attack by both Hezbollah and Iran could come with little to no warning.
