Israel Playing ‘Dirty Games to Sabotage Gaza Ceasefire Agreement: Hamas

Gaza (Quds News Network)- Hamas has accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of sabotaging the Gaza ceasefire agreement, saying Israel is not engaging in negotiations for the second phase of the deal due to end on March 1, adding the group was ready to abandon its governance role in Gaza.

Netanyahu’s “Dirty Games”

“We believe that again, these are dirty games from the right-wing government to sabotage and undermine the deal and to send a message of willingness to go back to war,” Basem Naim, a senior member of the Hamas political bureau, told Al Jazeera on Saturday.

Details of the second and third phases of the agreement, though understood to be agreed to in principle, were supposed to be negotiated during the six-week first phase, which has seen the release of Israeli captives in exchange for Palestinian detainees, the partial withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and delivery of humanitarian aid into the besieged enclave. According to the deal reached on January 19, the second phase, if finalised, would see the release of all the Israeli captives and a permanent ceasefire.

Naim said that the Palestinian group that governs Gaza remains committed to the agreement, and has abided by its obligations under the deal.

Netanyahu has threatened to resume the assault on Gaza and has said he is “committed” to a US proposal to “take over” the enclave and displace its Palestinian residents.

He has repeatedly said that he is committed to fulfilling the aims of the war in Gaza, including destroying Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in the region. His cabinet is also yet to vote on whether the conditions for the first phase of the Gaza truce deal have been met to transition to the second phase.

Israeli Violations

Naim accused Israel of violating the terms of the deal.

“Over 100 Palestinians have been killed in the first phase, much of the agreed humanitarian aid was not allowed into Gaza, and the withdrawal from the Netzarim Corridor [the militarised zone that divides Gaza into north and south] was postponed,” Naim said.

As part of the ceasefire agreement Israel had agreed to allow 60,000 mobile homes and 200,000 tents into Gaza, but that requirement has not been met. More than 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.4 million Palestinians have been displaced and large swaths of the enclave have been turned into rubble.

Israel has killed more than 48,319 Palestinians since it launched its offensive on October 7, 2023. The Government Media Office in Gaza says more than 13,000 people missing under the rubble are presumed dead.

Most recently, Israel has suspended the release of 602 Palestinian detainees as part of the seventh batch of the prisoner exchange deal under the first phase of the ceasefire agreement, allegedly accusing Hamas of violating the ceasefire, despite the latter having handed over six Israeli captives earlier on Saturday.

Hamas rejected Israel’s accusations of “humiliating ceremonies”, stating instead that these actions “reflect the noble, humane treatment” of the captives.

In a press release on Sunday, Hamas political bureau member Izzat al-Rishq said the group “strongly condemns the occupation’s decision to delay the release of Palestinian detainees. This decision once again exposes the occupation’s deceptive tactics and its failure to honor its commitments.”

“The occupation’s claim that “handover ceremonies are humiliating” is a baseless accusation and a flimsy excuse designed to evade its obligations under the agreement.”

“The captive handover ceremony does not include any insult to them, but rather reflects the noble humane treatment of them.”

“The true humiliation lies in what our detainees endure during the release process—torture, beatings, and intentional degradation until the very last moment.”

Gaza Governance

Naim said on Saturday that his group was ready to abandon its governance role in Gaza.

“We have said many times, even before October 7 [2023], that we are willing immediately to leave the governing position in the Gaza Strip and to allow any Palestinian unity government or a technocratic government or any alternative which is decided by Palestinians within the Palestinian consensus,” he said.

Naim said the group welcomes an Egyptian proposal to form a committee tasked with governing all aspects of life in Gaza in coordination with the Palestinian Authority government in Ramallah.

The official added that Hamas was founded as a national Palestinian resistance movement with clear goals, including “to get rid of the occupation, to achieve the Palestinian genuine and national goals of statehood, self-determination and the right to return”.

“We will continue our struggle with all other factions and all our people to achieve these goals through all means, including political and diplomatic means and armed resistance. But to run the daily lives of Palestinians, like health, education and social affairs, we are ready to leave it to a consensus-based solution.”