Sharjah 24 – AFP: A ‘Hamas’ official said Sunday the Palestinian group was withdrawing from Gaza truce talks, following a deadly Israeli strike that targeted militant commander Mohammed Deif more than nine months into the war.
Another ‘Hamas’ official said that "Commander Mohammed Deif", the ‘Hamas’ group's military chief, was "well and directly overseeing" operations despite the bombing raid on a southern Gaza displacement camp on Saturday, which Israel said was an attempt to kill him.
Another senior official said ‘Hamas’ was pulling out of negotiations towards a ceasefire because of Israeli "massacres" and repeated stalling.
The health ministry in the Gaza Strip said at least 92 people had been killed, more than half of them women and children, and 300 wounded in a strike on Al-Mawasi, an Israeli-designated "safe zone" on the Mediterranean coast.
Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas's Qatar-based political chief, told international mediators of the "decision to halt negotiations due to the (Israeli) occupation's lack of seriousness, continued policy of procrastination and obstruction, and the ongoing massacres against unarmed civilians", the official said.
But ‘Hamas’ was "ready to resume negotiations" when Israel's government "demonstrates seriousness in reaching a ceasefire agreement and a prisoner exchange deal", the official quoted Haniyeh as saying.
Talks mediated by Qatar and Egypt, with United States support, have for months tried but failed to bring a halt to the war.
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