Negotiations between Hamas and the Board of Peace executive council have reached an impasse, with the terrorist organization refusing to disarm and proceed to phase two of the ceasefire deal, KAN News reported on Sunday.
According to Palestinian sources cited by KAN, talks between Director-General of the BoP Nickolay Mladenov and the Hamas delegation, led by Khalil al-Hayya, are stuck over Hamas’s demands to disarm.
The terrorist organization has said that it would only give up weapons after the full implementation of phase one of the agreement, which requires Israel to withdraw from Gaza, and with guarantees that the plan would lead to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
Israel has already informed Mladenov that it will not withdraw beyond the Gaza “yellow line,” a border that divides the areas where residents of the Strip are not allowed to approach and which have a heavy IDF presence.
“We understand that Hamas is doing everything to evade. If it does not disarm itself, the IDF will return to fighting in Gaza in the near future to complete the mission,” a security source told KAN.
According to Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, Hamas’s proposal also included several stipulations specifically regarding which weapons were going to be taken into account in terms of disarmament. The Saudi outlet did not disclose the details of the proposal.
A source familiar with the matter told KAN News that Israel is looking to see concrete steps taken toward the disarmament of Hamas and the installation of the new technocratic government.
The Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.
Source:
www.jpost.com
