![People queue as Palestinian children are vaccinated against polio in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday.
People queue as Palestinian children are vaccinated against polio in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday.](https://cdn4.premiumread.com/?url=https://gulf-times.com/gulftimes/uploads/images/2024/09/06/219352.jpg&w=800&q=100&f=webp)
People queue as Palestinian children are vaccinated against polio in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday.
![Gulf Times](https://cdn4.premiumread.com/?url=https://gulf-times.com/gulftimes/uploads/images/2024/09/06/219354.jpeg&w=800&q=100&f=webp)
Palestinian resistance movement Hamas called on the United States yesterday to “exert real pressure” on Israel to reach a Gaza ceasefire agreement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces pressure to seal a deal that would free remaining captives, after Israeli authorities announced on Sunday the deaths of six whose bodies were recovered from a Gaza tunnel.
“If the US administration and its President (Joe) Biden really want to reach a ceasefire and complete a prisoner exchange deal, they must abandon their blind bias towards the Zionist occupation,” Hamas’s lead negotiator Khalil al-Hayya said, calling on the US to “exert real pressure on Netanyahu and his government”.
Netanyahu insists that Israel must retain control over the Philadelphi Corridor along the Egypt-Gaza border. Hamas is demanding complete Israeli withdrawal from the area and said Netanyahu’s position “aims to thwart reaching an agreement”.
The Palestinian group says a new deal is unnecessary because they agreed months ago to a truce outlined by Biden. “We do not need new proposals,” Hamas said in a statement.
“We warn against falling into the trap of Netanyahu.. who uses negotiations to prolong the aggression against our people,” the group said.
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby nonetheless said that Washington believes a ceasefire deal is 90% agreed.
But he added that “nothing is negotiated until everything is negotiated, and the things that are still in play right now are very, very detailed... issues, and that’s when things get difficult.”