Hamas is ready to resume negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage deal in the Gaza Strip, Taher al-Nunu, a senior Hamas official in the terrorist organization's political bureau, told the Qatari TV channel Al-Araby over the phone on Friday.
"We were surprised by the US accusations," he said. "We are ready to resume negotiations," adding that they "were proceeding positively."
Al-Nunu further claimed that Hamas had shown flexibility in the talks. "The positions were almost identical to the mediators' proposal," he claimed, and said that "Washington's accusations are surprising and baseless."
This came shortly after US President Donald Trump had said during negotiations that "Hamas didn't want to make a deal." Trump made the comments to reporters at the White House one day after Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said the administration decided to bring its negotiating team home for consultations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that both countries are considering alternative options for bringing the hostages home in a Friday statement.
Hostages reportedly had not been discussed in talks
Al-Nunu then told the Qatari source that the issue of the hostages "had not yet been discussed in the Doha negotiations, which have been ongoing over the past few weeks, stressing that it 'was supposed to be discussed next week.'"
The Hamas official also said that the talks saw much focus on where specifically in the Gaza Strip the withdrawal of Israeli forces would take place and on the delivery of humanitarian aid.
He accused Israel during the interview, adding that their negative statement on talks "is an attempt to evade the outcome of the negotiations."
Maariv Online contributed to this report.