©Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh speaks in a pre-recorded message shown on a screen during a press event for the International Quds Institution in Beirut, Lebanon, February 28, 2024. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
CAIRO (Reuters) – Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh accused Israel on Sunday of blocking ceasefire talks and rejecting Hamas’s demand to end the war in Gaza, but said the group was still seeking a negotiated solution.
Haniyeh said Israel has not yet committed to ending its military offensive, withdrawing its forces and allowing displaced Palestinians to return to their homes across the Gaza Strip.
“We don’t want a deal that doesn’t end the war in Gaza,” Haniyeh said in a televised address, a day before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
“The enemy continues to refuse to provide clear guarantees and commitments on the issue of ceasefire and ending the aggressive war against our people,” he added.
Haniyeh said his group is determined to defend its people and, at the same time, seek a negotiated solution.
“Today, if we receive a clear position from the mediators, we will be ready to proceed with the completion of the agreement and show flexibility on the issue of prisoner exchange,” Haniyeh said.
Hamas precipitated the war by killing 1,200 people and kidnapping 253 in an attack on Israel on October 7, according to Israeli tallies. In response, Israel launched a ground offensive and aerial bombardment on the densely populated Gaza Strip which, as of Sunday, had killed at least 31,045 Palestinians and injured 72,654, according to the Hamas-run enclave’s health ministry.
Hamas is considered a terrorist group by Israel, the United States, the European Union, Britain and others.
Haniyeh said his group was open to forming a unity government with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s rival Fatah movement and other factions.
He said steps toward this goal could include the election of a Palestinian National Council and the formation of an interim national consensus government with “specific tasks” until legislative and presidential elections are held.
Efforts to reconcile the two groups and end divisions that worsened after Hamas took over Gaza in 2007 have failed. Abbas’ governing authority has since been reduced to the Israeli-occupied West Bank.