Hamas official says group 'appreciates' Lebanon's right to reach agreement

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

CAIRO (Reuters) -Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said on Wednesday the group "appreciates" Lebanon's right to reach an agreement that protects its people and it hopes for a deal to end the war in Gaza.

A ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah movement came into effect on Wednesday after both sides accepted an agreement brokered by the United States and France, but international efforts to halt the 13-month-old war between Hamas and Israel in the Palestinian territory of Gaza have stalled.

"Hamas appreciates the right of Lebanon and Hezbollah to reach an agreement that protects the people of Lebanon and we hope that this agreement will pave the way to reaching an agreement that ends the war of genocide against our people in Gaza," Abu Zuhri told Reuters.

Later on Wednesday, the group said in a statement it was open to efforts to secure a deal in Gaza, reiterating its outstanding conditions.

"We are committed to cooperating with any effort to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and we are interested in ending the aggression against our people," Hamas said.

It added that an agreement must end the war, pull Israeli forces out of Gaza, return displaced Gazans to their homes, and achieve a hostages-for-prisoners swap deal.

Without a similar deal in Gaza, many residents said they felt abandoned. In the latest violence, Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip killed 15 people on Wednesday, some of them in a school housing displaced people, medics there said.

Months of attempts to negotiate a ceasefire have yielded scant progress and negotiations are now on hold, with mediator Qatar saying it has told the two warring parties it would suspend its efforts until the sides are prepared to make concessions.

Abu Zuhri blamed the failure to reach a ceasefire deal that would end the Gaza war on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has repeatedly accused Hamas of foiling efforts.

"Hamas showed high flexibility to reach an agreement and it is still committed to that position and is interested in reaching an agreement that ends the war in Gaza," Abu Zuhri said.

"The problem was always with Netanyahu who has always escaped from reaching an agreement," he added.

Hamas wants an agreement that ends the war in Gaza and sees the release of Israeli and foreign hostages as well as Palestinians jailed by Israel, while Netanyahu has said the war can only end after Hamas is eradicated.

In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, senior Palestinian Authority Hussein Al-Sheikh welcomed the agreement in Lebanon.

"We welcome the decision to ceasefire in Lebanon, and we call on the international community to pressure Israel to stop its criminal war in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and to stop all its escalatory measures against the Palestinian people," Sheikh, a confidant of President Mahmoud Abbas, posted on X.

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Tuesday his administration was pushing for a ceasefire in Gaza.

(Reporting by Nidal Al-Mughrabi; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Ros Russell)