Top Hamas official says group is losing faith in US as mediator in Gaza cease-fire talks

AP|
A top Hamas official said the terror group is losing faith in the United States' ability to mediate a cease-fire in Gaza ahead of a new round of talks scheduled for this week amid mounting pressure to bring an end to the 10-month-old war with Israel. Osama Hamdan told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday that Hamas will only participate if the talks focus on implementing a proposal detailed by U.S. President Joe Biden in May and endorsed internationally. The U.S. referred to it as an Israeli proposal and Hamas agreed to it in principle, but Israel said that Biden's speech was not entirely consistent with the proposal itself. Both sides later proposed changes, leading each to accuse the other of obstructing a deal. "We have informed the mediators that any meeting should be based on talking about implementation mechanisms and setting deadlines rather than negotiating something new," said Hamdan, who is a member of Hamas' Political Bureau, which includes the group's top political leaders and sets its policies. "Otherwise, Hamas finds no reason to participate." It was not clear late Wednesday if Hamas would attend the talks beginning Thursday.
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