Hamas says ready for ceasefire

Jerusalem: A senior Hamas official on Friday said the group is “ready for a ceasefire” in Gaza, urging US president-elect Donald Trump to “pressure” Israel as it continued to pound the Palestinian territory.

It comes nearly a week after Qatar, which hosts much of the Palestinian group’s political bureau, announced it was suspending its role as a mediator in the war and urging all parties to show “seriousness”.

“Hamas is ready to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip if a ceasefire proposal is presented and on the condition that it is respected” by Israel, Doha-based Hamas political bureau member Bassem Naim said.

Friday’s announcement by Hamas came as Israel continued to strike Gaza, with residents of the central city of Deir Al Balah searching through the rubble of their destroyed homes after overnight strikes.

“I woke up to the bombing at 2:30 am and was surprised by the rubble and glass falling on me and my children,” said Mohamed Baraka, one of the residents, adding that the strike “resulted in three martyrs and 15 injuries”.

“Put an end to this war… because there are innocent people who are losing defenceless children who have nothing to do with this,” he said.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed 43,764 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.

Israel on Friday also continued to strike Lebanon, where it intensified in September its air offensive and later sent in ground troops following a year of low-intensity cross-border exchanges with Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, Iran backs any decision taken by Lebanon in talks to secure a ceasefire with Israel, a senior Iranian official said on Friday, signalling Tehran wants to see an end to a conflict that has dealt heavy blows to Hezbollah.

Two senior Lebanese political sources said that the US ambassador to Lebanon had presented a draft

ceasefire proposal to Lebanon’s parliament speaker Nabih Berri the previous day. Berri is endorsed by Hezbollah to negotiate and met the senior Iranian official Ali Larijani on Friday.

Asked at a news conference whether he had come to Beirut to undermine the US truce plan, Larijani said: “We are not looking to sabotage anything. We are after a solution to the problems.”

“We support in all circumstances the Lebanese government. Those who are disrupting are Netanyahu and his people,” Larijani added, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

World powers say a Lebanon ceasefire must be based on UN Security Council Resolution 1701 which ended a previous 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel. Its terms require Hezbollah to move weapons and fighters north of the Litani river, which runs some 20 km (30 miles) north of the border. — Reuters