A top Hamas official says the group is losing faith in the US as a mediator in Gaza cease-fire talks

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — A top Hamas official said the Palestinian militant group is losing faith in the United States’ ability to mediate a cease-fire in Gaza ahead of a new round of talks scheduled for this week amid mounting pressure to bring an end to the 10-month-old war with Israel.

Osama Hamdan told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday that Hamas will only participate if the talks focus on implementing a proposal detailed by U.S. President Joe Biden in May and endorsed internationally.

The U.S. referred to it as an Israeli proposal and Hamas agreed to it in principle, but Israel said Biden’s speech was not entirely consistent with the proposal itself. Both sides later proposed changes, leading each to accuse the other of obstructing a deal.

Hamas is especially resistant to Israel’s demand that it maintain a lasting military presence in two strategic areas of Gaza after any cease-fire, conditions only made public in recent weeks.

“We have informed the mediators that … any meeting should be based on talking about implementation mechanisms and setting deadlines rather than negotiating something new,” said Hamdan, who is a member of Hamas' Political Bureau, which includes the group's top political leaders and sets its policies. “Otherwise, Hamas finds no reason to participate.”

It was not clear late Wednesday if Hamas would attend the talks beginning Thursday.

Hamdan spoke amid a new push for an end to the war, sparked by the Oct. 7 attack on Israel in which Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people and dragged about 250 hostages into Gaza. Israel responded with a devastating bombardment and ground invasion that has killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians and decimated wide swaths of the territory.

There are now fears the conflict could ignite a wider conflagration.

In an hourlong interview, Hamdan accused Israel of not engaging in good faith and said the group does not believe the U.S. can or will apply pressure on Israel to seal a deal.

Hamdan claimed Israel has “either sent a non-voting delegation (to the negotiations) or changed delegations from one round to another, so we would start again, or it has imposed new conditions.”

Israeli officials had no immediate comment on the claim, but Israel has denied sabotaging talks and accuses Hamas of doing so.

During the interview, Hamdan provided copies of several iterations of the cease-fire proposal and the group’s written responses. A regional official familiar with the talks verified the documents were genuine. The official offered the assessment on condition of anonymity in order to share information not made public.

The documents show that at several points Hamas attempted to add additional guarantors — including Russia, Turkey and the United Nations — but Israel’s responses always included only the existing mediators, the U.S., Egypt and Qatar.

In a statement Tuesday, the Israeli prime minister’s office said some changes it has asked for were merely “clarifications” adding details, such as to clauses dealing with how Palestinians will return to northern Gaza, how many hostages will be released during specific phases and whether Israel can veto which Palestinian prisoners will be released in exchange for Israeli hostages. It accused Hamas of asking for 29 changes to the proposal.

“The fact is that it is Hamas which is preventing the release of our hostages, and which continues to oppose the outline,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier this month.

Hamdan, however, claimed that more than once Hamas accepted in whole or in large part a proposal put to them by the mediators only to have Israel reject it out of hand, ignore it, or launch major new military operations in the days that followed.

On one occasion, one day after Hamas accepted a cease-fire proposal, Israel launched a new operation in Rafah in southern Gaza. Israel said the proposal remained far from its demands.

Hamdan said that CIA Director William Burns told Hamas via mediators at the time that Israel would agree to the deal.

But, he said, “the Americans were unable to convince the Israelis. I think they did not pressure the Israelis.”

Asked about Hamas' concern about the U.S. role, State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said: “Well, the United States does not think that Hamas is an honest broker.”

As to whether Hamas will attend the talks, Patel said representatives of Qatar had assured them they would.

“We fully expect these talks to move forward as they should. Our point of view is that all negotiators should return to the table,” Patel said.

Negotiations have taken on new urgency as the war has threatened to ignite a regional conflict.

Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah are mulling retaliatory strikes against Israel after the killings of Hamas' political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran and of top Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukur in Beirut. Israel claimed the latter strike, but has neither confirmed nor denied its role in the blast that killed Haniyeh.

After a brief truce in November that saw the release of more than 100 Israeli hostages, multiple rounds of cease-fire talks have fallen apart. Around 110 people taken captive remain in Gaza, about a third of them believed to be dead.

Hamdan accused Israel of stepping up its attacks on Hamas leaders after the group agreed in principle to the latest proposal put forward by mediators.

Israel said a July 13 operation in Gaza killed Mohammed Deif, the shadowy leader of Hamas’ military wing. More than 90 other people also died, local health officials said.

Hamdan insisted Deif is alive.

Two weeks later, Haniyeh was killed, with Hamas and Iran blaming Israel. Hamas then named Yahya Sinwar, its Gaza chief seen as responsible for the Oct. 7 attack, to replace Haniyeh — who had been considered a more moderate figure.

Hamdan acknowledged there are “some difficulties” and delays in communicating with Sinwar, who is believed to be hiding deep in the network of tunnels in the Gaza Strip. But Hamdan insisted this does not pose a major barrier to the negotiations.

The most intractable sticking point in the talks remains whether and how a temporary cease-fire would become permanent.

Israel has been wary of proposals that the initial truce would be extended as long as negotiations continue over a permanent deal. Israel seems concerned Hamas would drag on endlessly with fruitless negotiations.

Hamas has said it is concerned Israel will resume the war once its most vulnerable hostages are returned, a scenario reflected in some of Netanyahu’s recent comments.

All versions of the cease-fire proposal shared by Hamdan stipulated that Israeli forces withdraw completely from Gaza in the deal's second phase.

Recently, however, officials with knowledge of the negotiations told the AP that Israel had introduced new demands to maintain a presence in a strip of land on the Gaza-Egypt border known as the Philadelphi corridor, as well as along a highway running across the breadth of the strip, separating Gaza’s south and north. Hamas has insisted on a full withdrawal of Israeli forces.

Hamdan said the group had not yet received in writing the new conditions.

Hamdan acknowledged Palestinians have suffered immensely in the war and are yearning for a cease-fire, but insisted the group couldn't simply give up its demands.

“A cease-fire is one thing," he said, "and surrender is something else.”

Associated Press writers Samy Magdy in Cairo, Sarah El Deeb in Beirut, David Klepper in Washington and Julia Frankel in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Hamas political official Osama Hamdan speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Doha, Qatar, Tuesday Aug. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Malak Harb)

Hamas political official Osama Hamdan speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Doha, Qatar, Tuesday Aug. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Malak Harb)

People protest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and call for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Palestinians displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip flee from Hamad City, following an evacuation order by the Israeli army to leave parts of the southern area of Khan Younis, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip flee from Hamad City, following an evacuation order by the Israeli army to leave parts of the southern area of Khan Younis, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Hamas political official Osama Hamdan speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Doha, Qatar, Tuesday Aug. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Malak Harb)

Hamas political official Osama Hamdan speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Doha, Qatar, Tuesday Aug. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Malak Harb)

NEW YORK (AP) — Disgraced ex-movie mogul Harvey Weinstein faces mounting legal and health troubles some seven years after scores of women came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against him, helping launch the global #MeToo movement.

On Thursday, he was indicted on additional sex crimes charges in New York ahead of a retrial this fall. The grand jury decision remains sealed until he is formally arraigned in court.

Weinstein has maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.

Meanwhile, the 72-year-old remains hospitalized following emergency heart surgery — just the latest in an assortment of medical ailments that have cropped up while in custody.

Here’s a recap of where things stand:

In April, New York's highest court overturned Weinstein’s 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges, ruling that the trial judge had unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations from other women that were not part of the case.

A new trial was ordered and the tentative start date is Nov. 12.

One of the two accusers in that case has said she is prepared to testify against Weinstein again, but it remains to be seen if the other accuser will also take the stand once more.

Weinstein had been sentenced to 23 years in prison for that conviction.

Earlier this month, prosecutors disclosed that a Manhattan grand jury had reviewed evidence of up to three additional allegations against Weinstein.

They include alleged sexual assaults at the Tribeca Grand Hotel, now known as the Roxy Hotel, and in a Lower Manhattan residential building between late 2005 and mid-2006, and an alleged sexual assault at a Tribeca hotel in May 2016.

It is unclear when Weinstein will be formally charged on those allegations, given his current health condition. The next court hearing ahead of the retrial is slated for Sept. 18.

It is also unclear how the additional allegations will factor in the retrial. Prosecutors want to include the new charges in the retrial, but Weinstein’s lawyers oppose that, saying it should be a separate case.

In 2022, Weinstein was found guilty of rape, forced oral copulation and another sexual misconduct count after a one-month trial in Los Angeles. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison.

During the trial, a woman testified that Weinstein appeared uninvited at her hotel room during the LA Italia Film Festival in 2013 and that Weinstein became sexually aggressive after she let him in.

Weinstein’s lawyers appealed the conviction in June, arguing the trial judge wrongly excluded evidence that the Italian model and actor had a sexual relationship with the film festival director at the time of the alleged attack.

Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service announced Sept. 5 that it had decided to drop two charges of indecent assault against Weinstein because there was “no longer a realistic prospect of conviction.’’

In 2022, the agency authorized London’s Metropolitan Police Service to file the charges against Weinstein over an alleged incident that occurred in London in 1996. The victim was in her 50s at the time of the announcement.

Weinstein also faces several lawsuits brought by women accusing him of sexual misconduct.

Among the latest is one from actor Julia Ormond, who starred opposite Brad Pitt in “Legends of the Fall” and Harrison Ford in “Sabrina.” She filed the lawsuit last year in New York accusing Weinstein of sexually assaulting her in 1995 and then hindering her career.

The majority of lawsuits against Weinstein were brought to a close through a 2021 settlement as part of the bankruptcy of his former film company, The Weinstein Co. The agreement included a victims’ fund of about $17 million for some 40 women who sued him.

Weinstein’s lawyers have regularly raised concerns about his worsening health since being taken into custody following his 2020 conviction.

During his appearances in Manhattan court, he’s regularly transported in a wheelchair and his lawyers say he suffers from macular degeneration and diabetes that’s worsened due to the poor jailhouse diet.

Weinstein’s pericardiocentesis surgery last week was to drain fluid around his heart. His lawyers say his medical regimen causes him to retain water and that he must be constantly monitored to ensure the fluid buildup isn’t deadly.

A judge has granted his request to remain at Manhattan’s Bellevue Hospital indefinitely instead of being transferred back to the infirmary ward at the city’s notorious Rikers Island jail complex.

Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo.

A look at Harvey Weinstein’s health and legal woes as he faces more criminal charges

A look at Harvey Weinstein’s health and legal woes as he faces more criminal charges

FILE — Harvey Weinstein appears for a pretrial hearing in Manhattan criminal court, July 19, 2024, in New York. (Adam Gray/Pool Photo via AP, File)