Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh blamed Israel for the lack of progress in reaching a ceasefire deal in Gaza, the group said in a statement.
Haniyeh said Saturday that the Palestinian group would accept nothing less than a complete cessation of hostilities, Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and “lifting the unjust siege.”
“It is clear so far that the occupation (Israel) continues to maneuver and procrastinate on issues that concern our people, while its position revolves around the release of prisoners held by the resistance,” Haniyeh said.
He added that Israel must also release Palestinian prisoners serving long sentences as part of any future exchange deal.
In a speech on Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Hamas’ demands “delusional” and said a new deal to free the captives “doesn’t seem very close.”
Meanwhile, Israeli forces made arrests at Nasser Hospital, Gaza’s largest functioning medical facility, health officials and the military said Saturday, as air raids hit the enclave.
“The occupying forces arrested a large number of medical personnel inside the Nasser Medical Complex, which they (Israel) transformed into a military base,” said the spokesperson for the Israeli Ministry of Health. Gaza, Ashraf al-Qudra.
Following the Israeli incursion into the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, which began on Thursday, at least five patients died after a power outage and a cut in oxygen supplies, the Ministry of Health announced on Friday. Gaza.
The Israeli army said it was searching for fighters in Nasser and had so far arrested 100 suspects there, killed fighters near the hospital and found weapons inside.
Hamas has denied allegations that its fighters are using medical facilities for cover. At least two freed Israeli hostages said they were held at Nasser, but Israel has failed to provide overwhelming evidence to support previous accusations that the hospitals were used as Hamas command centers, or that prisoners allegedly been detained in hospitals.
Israel’s repeated attacks on hospitals have been called “unlawful” by human rights groups, with Human Rights Watch calling for them to be “investigated as war crimes”, and South Africa alleging before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague that these attacks on the Gaza health system were proof of “genocidal acts” committed by Israel.
The Israeli incursion into the hospital has sparked concern over patients, medical staff and displaced Palestinians sheltering there.
About 10,000 people sought shelter at the hospital earlier this week, but many left either in anticipation of the Israeli raid or because of Israeli orders to evacuate, Gaza’s health ministry said.
Israeli air raids hit central Gaza
Across the Gaza Strip, at least 83 people have been killed in Israeli air raids since Friday, health authorities said, including one person on Saturday in Rafah, a border area with Egypt that Israel now considers the last stronghold of Hamas.
The Palestinian Wafa news agency also reported Saturday that Israeli air raids killed at least 44 Palestinian civilians, including children, and injured dozens more when their residential homes were bombed in the center of Gaza, according to local and medical sources.
A series of air raids hit Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, an area where displaced Palestinians have been returning since Israel stepped up attacks on the southern town of Rafah.
The raids hit the east of the city, an area that saw heavy shelling last week, as well as the south. Ambulances were dispatched to the scene to transport the injured to hospital.
“It was insane,” Hany Allouh, 39, father of two young children. “The rockets flew overhead and caused a huge explosion. They exploded one after another, causing panic among people in the streets.
The Israeli military said its planes had killed numerous fighters in Gaza since Friday.
Across the border, air raid sirens warning of incoming rockets sounded in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon on Saturday.
“Catastrophic” consequences
Facing widespread international condemnation, Israel insisted it would soon launch a ground invasion of Rafah. It is where about 1.4 million of the enclave’s 2.3 million residents were forcibly displaced during Israeli attacks across Gaza during the four-month conflict.
Netanyahu reiterated in his speech Saturday that Israel would continue its planned attack even if a deal to release the captives was reached.
But six humanitarian and human rights organizations have warned of “catastrophic” consequences of an Israeli ground offensive in Rafah.
The joint statement was signed by the leaders of Oxfam, Amnesty International, ActionAid, War Child, the Danish Refugee Council and Handicap International.
“If Israel launches its proposed ground offensive, thousands more civilians will be killed and the current flow of humanitarian aid risks stopping completely. If this military plan is not stopped immediately, the consequences will be catastrophic,” the statement said.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell also renewed calls for Israel to avoid military action in Rafah.
Such action “would worsen an already catastrophic humanitarian situation,” Borrell wrote on X.
On Friday, US President Joe Biden said he repeatedly told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that there “needs to be a temporary ceasefire” in Gaza during “extensive” conversations this week.
Biden said he had warned Netanyahu against continuing a military operation in Rafah without a “credible and enforceable plan” to protect Palestinians sheltering there.
Reporting from Washington DC, Tel Aviv Tribune’s Kimberly Halkett said it was “unclear” whether Netanyahu was listening to Biden.
“Historically, it has not done so, especially when it comes to American warnings about how to conduct the Israeli military campaign,” Halkett said.