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2025-01-31 Israel-Palestine-Jordan
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Hamas official claims group continuing to rule Gaza, not going anywhere
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[IsraelTimes] A senior Hamas official says the group will continue to govern the Gaza Strip until a Palestinian alternative is found, underscoring its survival after 15 months of devastating war.
Speaking to The Associated Press in Cairo on Thursday, Taher Nounou says the 12-day-old ceasefire between Israel and Hamas means that “practically, we can say that the war is over.”
But, he says, the end must be confirmed by reaching an agreement on the truce’s second phase, which would see the return of remaining living hostages and a complete Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza.
Nounou says the group is determined to make the second phase of its ceasefire with Israel a success, but holds out the possibility that Israel could break off talks and resume fighting in Gaza.
Negotiations between Israel and Hamas over the ceasefire’s second phase are due to begin by Monday, but the two sides remain far apart.
“We’re determined — along with the Egyptian and Qatari mediators — to make this stage a success,” he says.
Asked if Hamas believes it won the war, Nounou says, “The Palestinian people were not defeated… The enemy did not achieve its goals.”
Israel had sought to eliminate Hamas’s ability to govern or constitute a military threat, and to recover its hostages.
Nounou says Hamas agreed to an Egyptian proposal that it hand over the running of Gaza to a “community support committee” made up of independent technocrats. It also accepts the creation of a national consensus government that would govern both the West Bank and Gaza Strip, he says, while claiming that both ideas were rejected by Fatah, which dominates the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority.
“Until one of the two options is adopted, there will be no vacuum. The current [Hamas-led] administration will bear its responsibility towards our people. And this is what is happening right now,” he said.
Nounou is a member of Hamas’ political bureau and media adviser to the group’s leader in Gaza, Khalil al-Hayya. Both men are based in Doha, Qatar.
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Posted by trailing wife 2025-01-31 2025-01-31 02:43||
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