On Thursday and Friday, talks on a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip were held in Doha with the participation of Qatar, Egypt, the United States, and Israel. The Hamas leadership refused to participate in the talks due to the lack of specifics on the terms of the truce.
The Axios news portal reported on Saturday, citing officials familiar with the matter, that US President Joe Biden was aiming to finalize a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal by the end of next week and to deter Iran and Lebanese movement Hezbollah from attacks on Israel that could hamper diplomatic efforts.
"The Biden administration is trying to show that the environment is positive. But the first round showed there are no improvements," Abdul Hadi said in an interview with Sky News.
According to Abdul Hadi, Biden's statements that he is optimistic about the prospects for the parties to reach an agreement and that there are a couple of issues that need to be agreed upon were made only to "keep everything sounding positive in the media" and to "keep the Axis of Resistance calm and to stop it responding to the assassination and not slip into a regional war."
The spokesperson of the movement added that the mediators reported that the contentious issues during the talks had not been resolved and that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had put forward more conditions and further complicated the situation.
A joint statement by the United States, Qatar, and Egypt, which was published by the office of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi, said that the mediators had presented Israel and Hamas with a ceasefire proposal that reduced the differences between the parties. The talks, which took place in the Qatari capital Doha on Thursday and Friday, were serious and constructive and took place in a positive atmosphere, the statement said. Senior government officials from Egypt, the United States and Qatar will meet in Cairo before the end of next week in the hope of reaching an agreement in line with the terms proposed on Friday.