CAIRO: Palestinian authority and groups accept a U.N. resolution backing a plan to end the war with Israel in Gaza and is ready to negotiate details, a senior Palestinian official said on Tuesday in what the U.S. Secretary of State called "a hopeful sign".
Conversations on plans for Gaza after the Mideast war ends will continue and in the next couple of days, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in Tel Aviv after talks with Israeli leaders. "It's imperative that we have these plans."
Blinken met Israeli officials on Tuesday in a push to end the eight-month-old Israeli air and ground war that has devastated Gaza, a day after President Joe Biden's proposal for a truce was approved by the U.N. Security Council.
Ahead of Blinken's trip, Israel and Palestinian Hamas both repeated hardline positions that have undermined previous mediation to end the fighting, while Israel has pressed on with assaults in central and southern Gaza, among the bloodiest of the war.
On Tuesday, however, senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said it accepted the ceasefire resolution and was ready to negotiate over the details. It was up to Washington to ensure that Israel abides by it, he added. He said Hamas accepted the formula stipulating the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and a swap of captives held in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners jailed in Israel.
"The U.S. administration is facing a real test to carry out its commitments in compelling the occupation to immediately end the war in an implementation of the U.N. Security Council resolution," Abu Zuhri said.
Blinken said the Hamas statement was "a hopeful sign" but definitive word was still needed from its leadership inside Israeli-besieged Gaza. "That's what counts, and that's what we don't have yet."
Blinken, speaking to reporters before departing for neighbouring Jordan, also said his talks were also addressing day-after plans for Gaza, including security, governance, and rebuilding the densely populated enclave.
In the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, Palestinians reacted cautiously to the Security Council vote, fearing it could prove yet another ceasefire initiative that would prove fruitless.
"We will believe it only when we see it," said Shaban Abdel-Raouf, 47, a displaced family of five sheltering in the central city of Deir Al-Balah. "When they tell us to pack our belongings and prepare to go back to Gaza City, we will know it is true," he said.
There are over 100 captives left in the coastal enclave, according to Israeli tallies, including at least 40 whom Israeli authorities have declared dead in absentia. — Reuters
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