Managing Palestinian affairs in Gaza or West Bank is ?internal matter that must be decided through national consensus,? group says

The Palestinian group Hamas said Sunday that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is ?an unwelcome figure in the Palestinian context,? stressing it has not received any proposal through mediators regarding a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

The remarks came from senior Hamas political bureau member Husam Badran published by the group on Telegram.

They followed a report in Israel?s Haaretz daily quoting an Arab political source as saying the US administration has drawn up a plan to appoint Blair to head a temporary administration in Gaza.

Badran said linking any plan to Blair ?is an ominous sign for the Palestinian people,? describing him as ?a negative figure who deserves to stand before international courts for his crimes, especially his role in the war on Iraq (from 2003?2011).?

He went further, calling Blair ?the devil?s brother,? and said he ?has brought nothing good to the Palestinian cause, the Arabs or the Muslims, and his criminal, destructive role has been well known for years.?

Badran stressed that managing Palestinian affairs in Gaza or the West Bank is an "internal matter that must be decided through national consensus, not imposed by any regional or international party."

?The Palestinian people are capable of managing themselves; we have the resources and expertise to run our own affairs and our relations with the region and the world,? he added.

He revealed that since December 2023, Hamas? leadership had made an internal decision -- shared with Palestinian factions and friendly states -- that it does not want to continue governing Gaza alone, even before the escalation of war and destruction.

On reported ceasefire proposals, Badran said: ?We have not received any official proposal through mediators, which is the usual channel for such initiatives.?

He added that so far, everything being circulated ?comes only through the media, whether attributed to (US President Donald) Trump or others.?

He noted this is not the first time that Washington, in coordination with Israel, has floated ideas and initiatives that later take time to be finalized and formally conveyed through mediators.

Earlier Sunday, Hamas said in a separate statement that ceasefire talks have been suspended since Israel?s failed assassination attempt against Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar on Sept. 9 and that it has received no new proposals in this regard.

This comes after Trump last Tuesday presented a 21-point plan to Arab and Muslim leaders on the sidelines of the 80th UN General Assembly in New York aimed at ending Israel?s two-year war on Gaza.

On Aug. 18, Hamas agreed to a mediator proposal for a partial ceasefire and prisoner exchange, but Israel failed to respond, despite the plan matching an earlier initiative put forward by US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and approved by Tel Aviv.

The Israeli opposition and families of captives accuse Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of blocking any potential deal to end the war and bring home their relatives in order to protect his political survival.

Domestically, Netanyahu faces corruption charges that could land him in prison if convicted, while the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for him on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity against Palestinians in Gaza.

The Israeli army has killed over 66,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, in Gaza since October 2023. The relentless bombardment has rendered the enclave uninhabitable and led to starvation and the spread of diseases.(AA)

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