Hamas says will reconsider its negotiating strategy, accuses Netanyahu of avoiding cease-fire

ANKARA

The Palestinian resistance group Hamas on Friday said it will reconsider its negotiating strategy with Israel over a cease-fire in Gaza and a prisoner swap.

In a statement, the group said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is avoiding a cease-fire agreement by adding amendments.

“Israel's rejection of the mediators' proposal, through the amendments it made to it, brought things back to square one,” Hamas said.

It added that Netanyahu and his government "are using the negotiations as a cover to attack Rafah, occupy the (Rafah) crossing, and continue the war of extermination against our people."

"They (Israel) bear full responsibility for obstructing an agreement," the group said.

Indirect talks between Hamas and Israel resumed in Egypt on Thursday to reach a cease-fire and hostage swap deal between the two sides.

Israel said the truce offer accepted by Hamas did not meet its key demands and decided to push ahead with an operation in Rafah to apply what it said "military pressure on Hamas to make progress on freeing the hostages and the other war aims.”

The Israeli army on Tuesday stormed and occupied the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing with Egypt, closing Gazan Palestinians' only gateway to the world.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip in retaliation for an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas which killed about 1,200 people.

More than 34,900 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, mostly women and children, and 78,514 others injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Over seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January said it is "plausible" that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and ordered Tel Aviv to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.