Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has blasted US officials for misrepresenting its negotiating position, identifying Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet as the primary obstacle to reaching a ceasefire.
“We are appalled by the statements of US President Trump and earlier by US special envoy Witkoff, which contradict the mediators’ assessment of Hamas’s position,” Izzat Al-Rishq, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, said in a statement released on Saturday.
On Friday, Trump blamed the Gaza-based resistance movement for the apparent collapse of the ceasefire talks, saying the group is going to be “hunted down.”
Witkoff also said on Thursday that Washington was cutting short its involvement in the negotiations, accusing Hamas of showing “a lack of desire to reach a ceasefire.”
Al-Rishq added that these statements are “inconsistent with the actual progress of negotiations that had been acknowledged by mediators, particularly Qatar and Egypt, as they expressed satisfaction and appreciation for our serious and constructive stance.”
The American statements, he noted, “deliberately ignore the real obstructionist to all agreements – Netanyahu’s [cabinet] – which continues to put obstacles, deceive, and evade commitments.”
“According to Al-Rishq, Hamas has negotiated flexibly and responsibly from the start of the negotiations, seeking a deal to end the war and Gaza’s suffering.
He dismissed US allegations of Hamas’s aid diversion as unfounded, citing a Reuters report that revealed flaws in Washington’s claims.
“The US State Department accused Hamas of stealing aid without providing visual evidence and that at least 44 of 156 aid theft incidents in Gaza had resulted from Israeli military measures.”
He called on the US to stop absolving the Israeli regime and “providing political/military cover for its genocide and starvation against over two million Gazans.”
The Hamas official also urged the US to apply real pressure on the regime “to seriously engage in ending the aggression and achieving a prisoner exchange deal.”
Despite ongoing indirect negotiations in Qatar, no agreement has been reached. While Tel Aviv has accused Hamas of delaying the process, the Palestinian group argues it is Israel that has obstructed progress by rejecting key conditions for a sustainable truce.
The proposed ceasefire also includes a prisoner exchange involving Israeli captives still held in Gaza. Of the 251 people taken on October 7, 2023, 49 remain in captivity, with the Israeli military believing that 27 of them are dead.
The occupying entity demands to dismantle Hamas’s military and governance infrastructure, while Hamas insists on guarantees for a lasting ceasefire, full Israeli withdrawal, and unimpeded flow of desperately-needed humanitarian aid.
The Israeli regime claims it has already accepted both the Qatari and the updated US proposals.