The head of Hamas's political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, has warned that Israel's insistence on continuing its military aggression against the southern Gaza city of Rafah puts negotiations over the captives' release and ceasefire in an unknown fate.
In a televised speech on the occasion of the 76th anniversary of the Palestinian “Nakba” on Wednesday, Haniyeh stated that Hamas “positively engaged with the efforts of mediators in Egypt and Qatar to reach an agreement to stop the fighting in Gaza and hostage swap” with Israel.
He added that “the occupation responded to our acceptance of the cease-fire proposal (presented by Egypt and Qatar) by entering Rafah city and northern areas” in the Gaza Strip.
Haniyeh continued that “the occupation’s modifications to this proposal have put negotiations at an impasse.”
He also considered that “Israel’s insistence on proceeding with the Rafah operation puts negotiations in an unknown fate”.
“We agree with our brothers in Egypt on the necessity of the enemy’s immediate withdrawal from the Rafah crossing and all areas of the strip”, he continued, emphasizing that “Israel has no right” to interfere in the management of the crossing.
His remarks came as Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has said that as long as the Benjamin Netanyahu government is in power, Israel will not be able to win the war in Gaza.
His comments came after Defence Minister Yoav Gallant rejected the possibility of Israeli civil or military governance of post-war Gaza.
“The government has lost control,” Lapid wrote in a post on X.
“Soldiers are being killed every day in Gaza and they fight among themselves on television. The cabinet is disassembled and non-functional. Ministers protest in front of cabinet meetings.”
“One cabinet sends humanitarian aid convoys and the other burns them,” he continued, adding, “Relations with the US are collapsing, the middle class is collapsing, they have lost the north”.
“We can’t go on like this. We will not win with this government.”
Since Oct. 7, 2023 after a Hamas attack killed nearly 1,200 Israeli citizens, Israel has launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip.
Gaza’s Health Ministry reported on Wednesday that the death toll has hit 35,230 with nearly 80,000 people injured.
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 is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January said it is “plausible” that Tel Aviv is committing what has been referred to as the “crime of crimes” in Gaza, ordering it to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
But Israel has continued its offensive, and aid deliveries remain far short of pre-war levels. Even then, the coastal territory was heavily reliant on external assistance due to Israel’s 17-year blockade.
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