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Monday, July 14, 2025
USA Africa Dialogue Series - Hamas Says It Won’t Sign a “Surrender” Agreement, As War of Attrition Intensifies ( A Compelling Account of Identity Defining Combat between Two Desperate Sides in a Historic War, as Seen from a Pro-Palestinian Perspective
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From: Jeremy Scahill <
From: Jeremy Scahill <
Drop Site News is fully reader-funded, which means we depend on supporters like you. Become a paid subscriber to gain access to our private Discord server, subscriber-only AMAs, chats, and invites to events. You can also visit our store for exclusive Drop site merchandise! Hamas Says It Won't Sign a "Surrender" Agreement, As War of Attrition IntensifiesTrump again claimed a Gaza deal may be imminent as Netanyahu continues his campaign of sabotage.
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Since Donald Trump announced on July 1 that a Gaza ceasefire deal was likely, if not imminent, Israel has sought to sabotage negotiations through well-worn methods in an effort to block a deal that would end the war. For nearly two weeks, a senior delegation from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) have been meeting with regional mediators from Qatar and Egypt in Doha in an effort to secure an agreement that lifts Israel's deadly blockade and restores the UN-led aid distribution system, withdraws Israeli occupation forces, and would see Hamas formally relinquish its governance of Gaza in return for a U.S.-guaranteed end to the genocide. Immediately after Trump announced what he called the "final proposal" for a Gaza deal, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu undermined the negotiating process, repeatedly announcing—in public—his intent to continue the war after securing the release of ten living Israeli captives in a temporary 60-day truce and to forge ahead with his ethnic cleansing campaign to force the surviving Palestinians out of Gaza. "After the pause, we will transfer the population in the Strip southward and impose a siege [on the rest of Gaza]," Netanyahu told far-right cabinet minister Bezalel Smotrich recently, according to Israel's Channel 12. On Monday, sitting in the Oval Office, Trump opined on the state of affairs. "The Gaza strip. I call it the Gaza strip. One of the worst real estate deals ever made. They gave up the oceanfront property," he said. "It was supposed to bring peace, and it didn't bring peace. It brought the opposite. But we're doing pretty well on Gaza." Trump added, "I think we could have something fairly soon to talk about." Israel reportedly submitted new "maps" to mediators on Monday for its proposed troop redeployments as part of a temporary ceasefire agreement. Netanyahu has been adamant he wants to keep large numbers of Israeli forces inside Gaza, particularly along the border with Egypt. Over the past week, Israel has faced pressure from the U.S. to scale down the scope in order to make a deal. Hamas has not yet responded. Subscribe to Drop Site News. As the process drags out and Israel continues its scorched earth attacks, Palestinian resistance fighters have escalated their operations targeting Israeli occupation forces. Fighters from Qassam Brigades, Hamas's armed wing, and those from Islamic Jihad's Saraya Al Quds have conducted a series of complex ambushes over the past two weeks, killing Israeli soldiers and destroying armored vehicles and other equipment. Five Israeli military divisions are currently deployed inside Gaza, comprising tens of thousands of troops. Palestinian resistance forces recently revealed that they had discovered a range of Israeli spy devices, some of which they claimed were planted before the original January ceasefire deal went into effect. An assessment circulated internally among Palestinian resistance groups and shared with Drop Site claimed fighters had disabled many surveillance devices and in some cases reprogrammed them to use in operations targeting Israeli forces. Israeli media outlets have noted a significant uptick in Palestinian resistance attacks against occupation forces. "The resistance eliminated these terrifying espionage methods, emptied them of their content, and even used them in some locations to its own advantage," the assessment stated. The Palestinian negotiators understand that unless Trump compels Israel to sign a deal that recognizes Hamas's "red lines," the alternative will be a continuation of a war of attrition. A senior Hamas leader told Drop Site that, in the absence of a deal, intensifying the armed insurgency against Israeli forces in Gaza would be "the only effective way of dealing with all their plans." "Netanyahu is adept at thwarting one round of negotiations after another and does not want to reach any agreement," Hamas said in a statement on Monday. "The longer the war continues, the more the occupation army sinks into the quicksand of Gaza and becomes more vulnerable to the resistance's qualitative strikes." The proximity talks—indirect negotiations through the regional mediators between Israel and Hamas—began on July 6, and since then, Israel has further ramped up its murderous attacks against Palestinians in Gaza. On a daily basis, children are dismembered, burned alive, or crushed under rubble. Starving Palestinians are gunned down as they seek meager food rations from the sites run by the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, as the Israeli military announces new, almost daily orders for forced displacement, cramming Palestinians into an ever-shrinking slice of land against the Mediterranean Sea on the western Gaza coast. On Saturday, Israel announced that Palestinians are no longer allowed to set foot in the sea, despite blazing hot summer temperatures. "Entry into the sea is prohibited," the Arabic language spokesperson for the Israeli army wrote on Twitter/X. "Defense forces will deal with any violation of these restrictions." Sources within the Palestinian negotiating team have told Drop Site that the Israeli delegation appeared to be sent to Doha by Netanyahu with a mission to demand total capitulation from Hamas, including full demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, and for Hamas leaders to go into exile. None of these terms are listed in the Trump-endorsed proposal. Basem Naim, a senior Hamas official, told Drop Site that he believes Netanyahu is publicly paying lip service to the possibility of a deal to buy time to blame Hamas for its failure, so he can move forward with Israel's war of annihilation in Gaza. "The negotiations are stalled despite all the positivity and flexibility shown by the movement to make this round of negotiations successful. The reason for this is the Netanyahu government's insistence on imposing [conditions] on the ground in the Gaza Strip that would lead to the occupation army retaining full control over the Strip," Naim said. "This includes their insistence on maintaining the current aid mechanism, 'death traps,' and not withdrawing from the Gaza Strip, keeping large areas, including all of Rafah, under the control of the occupation army as part of an Israeli plan to prepare for the displacement of the population. In addition to all of this, Netanyahu announced in the media that the war would resume after 60 days." Naim added, "This offer will not be acceptable to us, and the movement insists on an agreement that leads to a cessation of the war, the withdrawal of hostile forces, and the allowance of aid entry according to the January 2025 agreement." Nonetheless, over the weekend, Trump reiterated that he believed a deal was within sight. "We are talking and hopefully we're going to get that straightened out over the next week," he said Sunday after meeting with senior Qatari officials at a soccer match in New Jersey. Trump was joined by Special Envoy Steve Witkoff who said he remained "hopeful" a deal could be reached. In an interview broadcast on Saturday night, Netanyahu told FOX News, "We're working on it, but I think we'll end up meeting all our goals, achieving the release and safe return of our hostages, all of them, destroying Hamas."
"The Options Are Limited"Hamas officials have repeatedly told the U.S. and regional mediators they would accept a comprehensive deal that would include the immediate release of all Israeli captives held in Gaza, in return for an end to the war, lifting the blockade, and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Known as an "all for all" resolution, the plan would also include the release of a large number of Palestinians held by Israel and a long-term truce, known in Arabic as a hudna. Israel has rejected all of these offers. The Hamas-led negotiating team has acknowledged that it is under increasing pressure from Palestinians in Gaza to secure a deal, even a temporary one, because of the horrifying conditions and mass killing imposed on the enclave. But capitulating to Netanyahu's demands, in the view of the negotiators, would be to surrender the existence of Gaza as a Palestinian territory. Short of intervention by Trump, Palestinians have no alternative but to continue the resistance. "Everyone knows the options are limited. The only thing being offered to us is surrender—as if Israel is winning," said Mohammed Al-Hindi, deputy secretary general of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, in an interview with Al Jazeera Arabic on Saturday. "Even American and Western media are saying: this has turned into a war of attrition. But we have nothing but our courage. We build our own weapons. We don't have the resources Israel has. But our courage and faith are leveling the battlefield. The war of attrition is in our favor. Time is on our side, not Israel's. Israel surrounds Gaza, but it cannot advance. It wants to redraft the map, but it can't. If it moves forward, it will face even more attrition." On July 4, Hamas submitted proposed amendments to the framework endorsed by Trump. It solidified a series of concessions from Hamas, including the release of eight Israeli captives on the first day of an initial 60-day truce. The other two would be released on day 50 and the bodies of 18 deceased Israelis held in Gaza would be returned in phases over the course of two months. Hamas had initially wanted these exchanges spread out to prevent Netanyahu from resuming the war after a week. Among Hamas's amendments were terms that would place the UN back in control of aid distribution in accordance with the original January ceasefire agreement that Israel unilaterally abandoned in March to continue its genocidal assault on Gaza. Hamas also proposed that equipment necessary for "the rehabilitation of infrastructure (water, electricity, and sanitation), the rehabilitation of hospitals and bakeries" be allowed into Gaza, as well as equipment to remove rubble and repair roads. Hamas also wanted stronger language solidifying Trump's guarantee that the 60-day ceasefire and the flow of aid would continue until a permanent ceasefire agreement could be reached. Among the most contentious issues, Hamas proposed that Israeli troops be withdrawn to positions laid out in maps negotiated in the context of the January agreement. The original text of the Trump-backed framework employed vague language and suggested new maps would be negotiated. Hamas also included a term that would re-open the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian border in both directions for "travelers, the sick, the wounded, and trade." Netanyahu has insisted that Israeli forces would not pull out from the Philadelphi corridor along the Egyptian border—Gaza'a only gateway to a world beyond Israel—and would maintain full control over all of Gaza. Last week, Israeli journalist Barak Ravid reported in Axios that the Trump administration understood that Hamas would not agree to an Israeli plan to establish what would amount to a concentration camp in southern Gaza, replete with large scale Israeli military forces remaining in Gaza indefinitely. The chief of the Israeli military said his forces would seize a large swath of southern Gaza to establish what he cynically referred to as a "humanitarian city" where an initial 600,000 Palestinians would be corralled and fed before being deported to other countries. Witkoff and a senior Qatari official, Ravid reported, "made it clear to [Netanyahu's lead negotiator Ron] Dermer that the map proposed by Israel—which involves a far more narrow redeployment than the one the IDF carried out during the previous ceasefire—is a non-starter." Netanyahu then scrambled, in an apparent effort to appease the U.S., by proposing a fake "compromise" that would effectively keep the same terms in place. A Hamas official told Drop Site that on Wednesday evening Israel demanded the creation of an Israeli-controlled buffer zone encircling Gaza that would extend two kilometers into Gaza in the north and east of the enclave, as well as a four kilometer (2.5 mile) zone cutting through southern Gaza. The proposal, if enacted, would mean Israel occupying some 40% of Gaza. On Monday, Hebrew media reported that Israel was submitting another proposal with "new" maps that further reduced the proposed footprint of Israeli troops in the south, but would leave them firmly entrenched in Rafah and in a military cordon around all of Gaza. "The Americans came and took over the negotiation track—in Washington. They're negotiating with Israel. Then they bring us the result and say: 'Sign this—surrender,'" Al-Hindi said on Al Jazeera. "Mediators are working hard to reach a sensible deal — but all efforts crash against Israeli obstinance. If they truly wanted a ceasefire, they'd offer real guarantees. But even U.S. guarantees are meaningless. Last time, Israel took back its hostages and immediately resumed killing. They don't want to end the war. They want to manage it." Drop Site News Middle East Research Fellow Jawa Ahmad contributed to this report. 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Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
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USA Africa Dialogue Series - Press Briefing
Press Briefing by Kaduna State Stakeholders of the Coalition of Political Opposition and Members of African Democratic Congress (ADC) on Monday, July 14, 2025
Who We are
We are stakeholders of the Coalition of Political Opposition in Kaduna State who are part of the national Coalition and were/are members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP). Together with us are the State Leaders of the African Democratic Party (ADC) led by Alh. Ahmed Tijjani Mustapha, Mr. Patrick Didam and Alh. Ibrahim Suleiman.
Three leaders of the Coalition who have also endorsed this Press Briefing are Sen. Nenadi Usman, National Chairman of Labour Part, Sen. Datti Baba Ahmed, 2023 Vice Presidential Candidate of Labour Party and Alh. Shuaibu Idris Mikati. They have sent representatives as they are unable to attend in person because they are currently out of the country.
With the national leadership of the Coalition unveiling the ADC as the political party platform for 2027 elections on Wednesday, July 2, 2025 in Abuja, being stakeholders and opposition political leaders in Kaduna State who are committed to the principles and objective of rescuing Nigerian democracy, we commenced consultations among ourselves and with the State leadership of the ADC in order to initiate the process of building a truly strong democratic party that will prioritise the need to reform politics in the state with the goal of uniting the people of Kaduna State.
Our desire and belief is that the preoccupation of the Coalition and ADC in Kaduna State must be to mobilise citizens across the State to respect one another based on recognition of our differences through accommodation and tolerance. Acknowledging that divisive politics in the state is the dominant practice, any national project of rescuing democracy must necessarily be oriented to unite citizens in Kaduna State if at all it is to produce fresh air that can guarantee peaceful coexistence and cooperation among citizens, which is fundamental for any form of development and societal progress.
Briefing
Since unveiling ADC as the political party platform for the Coalition for 2027 elections, negotiations are ongoing at national level to conclude the nomination of members of the National Interim leadership of ADC. This is expected to be concluded very soon. Immediately it is concluded, the national leadership is expected to issue guidelines for the reorganisation of structures of the party at all levels. While awaiting the guidelines, we have begun to formalise engagements and agree on how we want to continue with the task of domesticating the Coalition and developing the structures of the new party – ADC – across all the 23 Local Governments and 255 Wards in the state.
We are doing that to avoid past experiences whereby such a crucial task is reduced to hegemony contests among individuals with ambitions to contest elections at different levels. Once that is the case, we will end up with another business-as-usual project that will produce a weak party whose leadership at all levels will only be surrogates and errand boys and girls of aspiring candidates, in which case, at best, it will be another deceptive project with the only ambition of winning elections without the required commitment to address challenges facing citizens.
It is important that from the onset we have clarity about what needs to be done to lay the necessary foundation for success such that the Coalition produces a strong party structure that can truly unite all stakeholders through collective leadership based on which issues of equal opportunities and participation can be guaranteed. In doing that, we are taking our bearing from experiences at national level by making efforts to replicate the model used to consummate agreement making the ADC the political party platform for the Coalition with all the main opposition leaders united.
The most important principle that was used to moderate the conduct of all opposition political leaders in the country at national level is that no one person or group can defeat the APC and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu alone. This requires all opposition leaders to unite and work towards producing only one Presidential Candidate for the 2027 elections in order to succeed. Cascading that to Kaduna State simply means no one person can defeat the APC and Governor Uba Sani. We must work towards unity of all opposition leaders in the State to achieve that.
Accordingly, individual ambitions to contest for elections, especially for the position of Governor, should be suspended during the period of negotiation to build the structures of the ADC in Kaduna State. Related to that, all leaders should be recognised in their individual merit based on which everyone is treated equally. Having established those principles, efforts must be made to identify political leaders across all the three senatorial zones irrespective of the parties they belonged.
Work has commenced in that regard. Very soon, state consultative meetings of the Coalition should begin to take place. So far, we have been having consultations with the leadership of ADC in the State. Together with them, work has commenced to verify existing reality. The verification is almost concluded. Given the excitement the Coalition and the unveiling of ADC at national level has generated in the State, through consultations with Interim National leaders of ADC, arrangement is being made to commence membership registration across all the 23 Local Government. The state leaders of ADC will give further information to the general public on the membership registration.
An issue that legacy members and leaders of ADC in the state have been asking is whether their tenure has ended. The Interim National Chairman, Sen. David Mark has made it clear when he met with all State Chairmen on Thursday, July 11, 2025 that current leaders will continue in office. Based on that, we are working to develop good working relations with the current leadership of ADC in the State. Further developments will be determined based on the outcome of the verification exercise and the guideline from Interim National leadership of the party.
Orientation of the Coalition and ADC – Why it Matters
Being citizens, first and foremost, it is important we define the orientation of the Coalition and how it should function in Kaduna State for it to guarantee that political activities will promote unity of citizens based on mutual respect. Coming from the recent past whereby citizens were mobilised to change government, but elected leaders ended up creating more damage, we are wary about producing another assemblage of politicians whose main objective is limited to grabbing power covered by some grandiose promises that only aimed to mobilise the anger and frustrations of citizens to win elections.
Avoiding a repeat of such experiences will require that decisive steps are taken from the onset to make the Coalition and ADC different. The first thing that must be different is that the Coalition and ADC in Kaduna State must not be reduced to operating in the mode of being controlled by a godfather where one leader monopolises the process of decision making and ends up imposing State party leaders and when it is time for election, single handedly appoints delegates and impose candidates.
The new orientation we want is that all stakeholders must be recognised and involved in all decision making and majority opinion should be respected and accepted as the decisions of the party through application of known and acceptable democratic methods as enshrined in the party's constitution. On no account should anyone use the fraudulent practice of imposing a so-called consensus to trample on internal democracy within the Coalition and ADC. Achieving the new orientation will require that meetings hold and members are allowed to freely express themselves, including the right to disagreeing with political leaders and offering better alternatives.
Appeal
We want to appeal to all opposition political leaders in Kaduna State aspiring to join the Coalition and register as members of the ADC to have a higher tolerance level in order to meet the requirement of qualifying to serve as political leaders capable of rescuing democracy. When political leaders are intolerant, what comes out of them will be realities such as being discriminatory, self-serving and lawless. Where this is allowed to be the case, the default mindset of such a political leader will be imposition and winning elections through rigging. These are dominantly the character of elected leaders today, which the coalition and ADC wants to change.
The Coalition and ADC must be oriented to produce elected leaders whose character is different. As stakeholders in Kaduna state, we want to appeal for the protection of the national leadership to prevent a repeat of another political disappointment in the name of campaign to rescue Nigerian democracy.
We appeal to all citizens aspiring to join the Coalition and ADC from all the 23 Local Governments to locate all the membership registration points and register when the time is announced. As stakeholders, we will work hard, including engaging leaders of the Coalition and ADC at all levels to create a strong political equal opportunity platform that would guarantee the unity of citizens in Kaduna State.
As stakeholders, we are committed to ensuring that the objective of rescuing Nigerian democracy and moving the nation forward is achieved. May God bless the Coalition and ADC and crown Nigerians with success in producing good leaders that can work selflessly to meet public expectations. Amin!
Signed
Sen. Nenadi Usman
Sen. Datti Baba Ahmed
Dr. John Ayuba
Sen. Musa Bello
Alh. Shuaibu Idris Mikati
Mal. Salihu Moh. Lukman
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