Hamas said it had told mediators it would not participate in more indirect negotiations during the ongoing aggression, but was ready for a “full agreement” including an exchange of hostages and prisoners if Israel stopped its war on Gaza.
Talks led by key mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States to achieve a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian group that rules Gaza have repeatedly stalled, with both sides arguing blaming each other for the lack of progress.
Hamas’ statement Thursday comes as Israel continues its offensive on Rafah in southern Gaza, despite an order from the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the United Nations’ highest court, to end its attack .
Hamas said it showed flexibility in negotiations and approached each previous round of negotiations with a “positive” spirit, including the last one when it accepted a deal proposed by a mediator on May 6 – shortly after the Israeli forces have entered the widely criticized terrain. offensive in Rafah.
“Hamas and the Palestinian factions will not agree to be part of this policy by continuing (ceasefire) negotiations in light of the aggression, siege, famine and genocide of our people” , indicates the Hamas press release.
“Today we informed the mediators of our clear position that if the occupation ceases its war and aggression against our people in Gaza, we are ready to reach a comprehensive agreement including a comprehensive exchange agreement,” he added.
There were significant sticking points in previous negotiations. Hamas has repeatedly stated that it will not accept a deal that does not guarantee a permanent ceasefire, a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the unhindered return of displaced families to their homes.
Israel has rejected Hamas’s previous demands as unacceptable and said it was determined to topple the group in Gaza. He says his offensive in Rafah is focused on rescuing hostages and eliminating Hamas fighters in the city.
More than 240 people were captured on October 7 when Hamas fighters launched an attack in southern Israel, killing at least 1,139 people, according to an Tel Aviv Tribune tally based on Israeli statistics.
Israel then launched its war on Gaza, which has killed more than 36,000 Palestinians, according to health officials. The conflict has reduced much of the Palestinian territory to rubble and displaced the vast majority of residents.
A first round of negotiations between Israel and Hamas in November resulted in the release of around 100 prisoners in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. But since then, negotiations have largely stalled.
“Malnourished children”
Israel on Thursday continued its offensive on Rafah a day after declaring that its forces had taken control of a buffer zone along the nearby border between the Palestinian territory and Egypt, giving it effective authority over the entire Gaza land border.
He claimed that the capture of the buffer zone had cut off a route used by Hamas to smuggle weapons into Gaza.
Medical sources in Gaza said 12 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike while trying to recover the body of a civilian in the center of Rafah.
Elsewhere in the coastal enclave, fighting raged in several areas, officials said. A Palestinian was killed in an airstrike on the Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, in the north of the densely populated enclave.
Israel reported fighting in southern, central and northern Gaza, but did not immediately comment on deaths reported in Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians took refuge earlier in the war.
Communications services were cut in Rafah “due to the ongoing aggression,” Palestinian telecommunications company Jawwal said in a statement.
The United States, Israel’s closest ally, reiterated its opposition to a major ground offensive in Rafah on Tuesday but said it did not believe such an operation was underway.
Despite global outrage and numerous warnings from aid groups and the UN about the humanitarian consequences of the Rafah assault, Israel has vowed to press on.
As the assault intensifies, malnutrition has spread across Gaza, with aid deliveries slowing to a trickle, and the UN warning of an onset of famine.
Tel Aviv Tribune’s Hind Khoudary, reporting from Deir el-Balah, said Palestinians had “little hope.”
“Imagine being displaced seven or eight times since the start of the war and trying every day to save your children from airstrikes and find them food and water,” Khoudary said, speaking from the Al-Aqsa hospital.
“Today we saw three cases of children suffering from malnutrition. No medical supplies have entered the Gaza Strip for three weeks now. The healthcare system is collapsing,” she said.
