Hamas says still ready to go ahead with Gaza plan

GAZA CITY - Hamas said on Aug 8 it remained ready to proceed with a US-backed Gaza peace plan and urged pressure on Israel, which insists it did not agree to the latest part of the deal.

Hamas informed US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace that it stood by the latest stage of the plan, under which the militants would hand over weapons to a nascent Palestinian governing committee in the war-battered territory.

“Hamas and other factions have confirmed to mediators their readiness to begin implementing the agreement and move to the second phase, provided it receives Israeli approval and that Israel begins implementing the agreement,” a Hamas official told AFP.

“Hamas is urging the US administration to exert pressure on Israel to compel it to abide by the agreement and move to the second phase,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces a tough re-election fight in October and wide opposition from his right-wing base to the Gaza deal, said on Aug 4 that Israel had not agreed to the “draft” presented by the Board of Peace.

Trump last week had hailed as a breakthrough that Hamas had agreed to disarmament under the plan, with the Board of Peace saying Israel would in tandem carry out a phased withdrawal from much of Gaza.

Netanyahu on Aug 3 met the Board of Peace’s high representative for Gaza, Nickolay Mladenov, who backtracked and said Israel would withdraw only after a full disarmament by Hamas.

Israel’s military also vowed to keep hitting Hamas, which carried out the deadliest attack ever against Israel on Oct 7, 2023.

But Israeli operations in Gaza, while ongoing, appear to have decreased in intensity in recent days. On Saturday, the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis reported three people injured by Israeli army gunfire.

Israeli operations in Gaza have killed 1,257 Palestinians since October last year, when the two sides agreed to a ceasefire backed by Trump, according to the territory’s health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.

The Israeli army has reported five deaths in its ranks during the same period. AFP