GAZA CITY
The Gaza-based Palestinian resistance movement Hamas on Tuesday said that it did not unilaterally approve a new 24-hour humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
"There is no credence to statements that Hamas has unilaterally approved a 24-hour humanitarian ceasefire," movement spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told Anadolu Agency.
He said Gaza's resistance movements are the ones, which would decide whether there would be a ceasefire or not.
Abu Zuhri added that for Hamas to accept any ceasefire in the future, Israel must demonstrate commitment to this ceasefire in the presence of international guarantees.
Yasser Abd Rabu, a senior member of the Palestine Liberation Movement, said earlier that the Palestinian leadership made sure that Gaza resistance factions Hamas and Islamic Jihad were ready for an immediate ceasefire and a humanitarian truce for 24 hours in Gaza.
Since July 7, Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip with fierce aerial bombardments with the ostensible aim of halting rocket fire from the strip, leaving 1158 people dead and more than 7000 others injured.
The vast majority of the dead and injured victims are civilians: children, women and elderly people.
Gaza-based resistance factions, meanwhile, have continued to fire rocket at Israeli cities in response to relentless Israeli bombardments.
According to official Israeli figures, 53 Israeli soldiers and three civilians have been killed since the hostilities began.
Israel's military operation, dubbed operation "Protective Edge," is the self-proclaimed Jewish state's third major offensive against the densely-populate Gaza Strip – which is home to some 1.8 million Palestinians – within the last six years.
In 2008/9, over 1500 Palestinians were killed in Israel's three-week-long operation "Cast Lead."
By Ola Attalah
englishnews@aa.com.tr
www.aa.com.tr/en
