Hamas says Israel 'not serious' in Gaza cease-fire negotiations

ISTANBUL

Palestinian resistance group Hamas said on Friday that Israel does not take Gaza cease-fire negotiations seriously.

Speaking to the Hamas-run Al-Aqsa TV channel, senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan said Israel does not offer any genuine proposals and "is definitively not serious in the (cease-fire) negotiations."

"Any proposal presented to us (Hamas) that meets our people's demands, ends their suffering, and completely halts the Israeli aggression, not temporarily, we will proceed with it without hesitation," Hamdan said.

He added that Israel is unable to break the Palestinian resistance despite the yearlong war in the enclave. Israel has killed more than 43,000 people in Gaza and rendered it uninhabitable since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks.

Efforts led by the US, Egypt, and Qatar for a permanent cease-fire have so far failed, mainly due to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to halt the war.

The resistance group says it will not accept any truce proposal that does not include a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a total end to hostilities.

An Israeli delegation returned from Doha this week, with the prime minister's office saying discussions between the mediators and Hamas will continue in the coming days in order to "evaluate the feasibility of talks and the continued effort to advance a deal."

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar