Hamas Says It Will Continue Ceasefire Talks Under Sinwar

A Hamas official has said the Palestinian group will continue ceasefire negotiations with Israel after it appointed Yahya Sinwar as the head of the political bureau following the Israeli assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

Sinwar is Hamas’s leader in Gaza, and the appointment makes him the top political official as well. “The negotiations were managed by the leadership, and Sinwar was not far from the negotiation process. He was part of its details,” Hamas official Osama Hamdan told Anadolu.

Haniyeh was the highest-level Hamas official outside of Gaza, which put him in charge of negotiations with Israel, although Hamas officials said Sinwar was always involved. The Israeli assassination of Haniyeh was seen as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s latest attempt to sabotage the chances of reaching a ceasefire deal with Hamas.

“The problem was not Hamas, but Israel, Netanyahu, and the US, which was not sincere in its mediation or in its attempt to push for a ceasefire,” Hamdan said. The US has not publicly criticized the Israeli killing of Haniyeh and is vowing to defend Israel from any Iranian reprisal attack.

Israeli officials have told The Times of Israel that negotiations with Hamas are on hold until after Iran’s expected attack, although if the situation turns into a full-blown regional war, it could end any hopes of a ceasefire in Gaza.

After Sinwar was appointed as Hamas’s political chief, the Israeli military made new threats against his life. “We will strive to find him, attack him, and have them replace the head of the political bureau again,” Israeli Defense Forces Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said on Wednesday.