Watch — Ice Cream Diplomacy: Biden Hopes for Israel-Hamas Ceasefire by Monday
“We’ve had progress with the conversations we’ve had between Egypt, Israel, the United States and Qatar,” said spokesman Matthew Miller, the BBC reports.
Hamas official Ahmad Abdel-Hadi indicated that optimism on a deal was premature.
“The resistance is not interested in giving up any of its demands, and what is proposed does not meet what it had requested,” he reportedly told the Pan-Arab TV channel Al Mayadeen.
Hamas has previously demanded Israel end the war as part of any deal, which Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu called “delusional.”
Roughly 130 hostages remain in Gaza, but Israel says about a quarter of them have died at the hands of the terrorist organization.
Despite Biden’s public optimism on a ceasefire, Israel’s Ynet news site cited an unnamed senior Israeli who countered comments on a Gaza truce being close at hand.
The official said he doesn’t understand “what his optimism is based on.”
Israeli officials yesterday said Hamas appeared set to reject the latest proposal by international mediators.
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