The Palestinian radical movement Hamas refuses to negotiate with mediators until Israel releases the group of prisoners that were due to be released on February 22.
This was stated by the representative of the movement, Mahmoud Mardawi.
“There will be no negotiations with the enemy through mediators until the release of the prisoners, which was agreed in exchange for the transfer of six Israeli hostages“, the television channel Al Jazeera quoted the representative as saying.
US President's envoy, Stephen Witkoff, announced that he will travel to the Middle East next week for talks on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“We will get to the second phase of the Gaza agreement. I am focused on that and I think it will happen. I will probably go there on Wednesday night. I will spend five days in the Middle East and visit a number of countries, including Qatar, Egypt, Israel, the UAE and Saudi Arabia,“ he told CBS.
“The devil is in the details. I am not sure that anyone will have a problem with people coming back. We are discussing it. "I think the main issue today is the implementation of the second phase and then work on the Gaza reconstruction plan," he said when asked whether Trump's plan to rebuild the Gaza Strip and resettle Palestinians there includes their return to the enclave in the future.
Witkoff answered in the affirmative when asked whether the leaders of the radical Hamas movement would have to leave the Gaza Strip. "The agreement, signed on May 27 last year, establishes that the second phase of the negotiations will be mainly about two things - a permanent ceasefire, an end to violence, and that Hamas should not be allowed to return to the government. The solution to this incredibly difficult problem is that Hamas must leave Gaza. They must go," Trump's special envoy is convinced.