Tel Aviv, March 6: Senior Hamas leader Osama Hamaden has said that the outfit will release the remaining 134 hostages only when the permanent ceasefire is in place and Israelis completely withdraw from Gaza.
Hamadan in a statement in Beirut on Tuesday said that in the past two days the organisation had clearly presented this view before the Qatari and Egyptian mediators. He said that Hamas had reaffirmed its position that a permanent ceasefire was possible only after a full pull out of the IDF from Gaza Strip and return of displaced Palestinian families to their homes. The tough position taken by Hamas has almost derailed the US President Joe Biden’s optimism that a temporary six week ceasefire would be reached before March 10 – the commencement of the Holy month of Ramadan. (IANS)
