No progress has been made in talks to reconstruct the Gaza Strip, sources told the Palestinian Al-Quds newspaper, Tuesday.
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"Israel is continuing to dawdle and not showing it is serious," thereby preventing a breakthrough in efforts by mediators to reach a long-term ceasefire and prevent a renewal of fighting, the sources said.
"Israel is trying to perpetuate a new equation through pressure on terrorist groups in Gaza and mediators by tying all of these issues, including prisoner exchange deals and Gaza's rehabilitation, fully opening border crossings, and improving the economic situation together," the sources said.
Hamas, along with other terrorist groups, has refused, insisting any prisoner exchange deal be kept separate from efforts to reconstruct Gaza. The terror organizations have demanded Gaza's reconstruction and the removal of all restrictions on the coastal enclave instead be conditioned on maintaining quiet to keep the ceasefire intact and nothing more.
In a meeting with Yahya Sinwar, UN Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland reportedly informed the Hamas leader of Israel's vision, relayed to him by Defense Minister Benny Gantz, to tie the issues together. Hamas and the other terrorist groups rejected that proposal outright. Other sources said Wennesland also informed Sinwar Israel was insisting the Palestinian Authority be tasked with overseeing Gaza's reconstruction as well as any transfer of Qatari funds to Gaza.
The Kan public broadcaster reported that Sinwar threatened to escalate tensions should the $30 million in Qatari funds not be allowed into the terrorist enclave, promising riots on the border and incendiary balloons.
Following his meeting with the UN envoy, Sinwar said: "There are no signs of a solution to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and the occupation [Israel] is trying to extort us," according to the Kan report.
While Israel has yet to make a decision on the Qatari cash, Jerusalem believes a solution could be reached next week, following a visit by an Israeli delegation to Egypt to discuss a long-term ceasefire deal, Kan reported.
Hamas has come to understand the mediators "are incapable of pressuring Israel and its attempts to impose conditions," the sources said.
While Hamas has not objected to the proposal the PA be tasked with Gaza's reconstruction, it is interested in it being carried out through a "national partnership" of sorts.
The sources further noted no progress has been made in Egyptian-mediated efforts toward a prisoner exchange deal.
On Tuesday, Lebanon's Hezbollah-aligned Al-Akhbar newspaper reported Wennesland had send Hamas the message Israel would refuse to open the border crossings and ease restrictions on the terrorist enclave, including allowing the entry of Qatari and UN funds absent a resolution to the issue of Israeli captives and hostages held by Hamas.
According to the newspaper's sources, Israel has demanded Hamas be more flexible in its demands for a prisoner exchange. Hamas, however, refused, telling the UN envoy "the chances of a return to [a situation in which things] explode are growing day by day."
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