Gaza:
A Hamas spokesman said on Monday that the Palestinian group would continue negotiations on a ceasefire in Gaza despite Israel's order to evacuate people from Rafah in the south.
“We will continue negotiations positively and with an open heart,” Hamas spokesman Abdul Latif al-Qanou told AFP.
He reiterated that an agreement was needed to provide “a permanent ceasefire and the fulfillment of the demands of our people.”
Israel has publicly rejected a permanent ceasefire.
Qanou's comments came after the Israeli military ordered the evacuation of Palestinians from eastern Rafah early Monday, ahead of a long-threatened ground invasion of the southern Gaza city, the prospect of which has caused widespread global alarm.
After the latest round of ceasefire talks in Cairo this weekend failed to produce a breakthrough, the Hamas delegation headed back to Qatar, where its political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, is based.
“The leadership of the movement is in a state of internal and factional deliberation after the latest round of negotiations in Cairo,” Qanou said.
Any ceasefire reached would be the first since a weeklong ceasefire in November that saw hostages and prisoners exchanged between Israel and the Islamist movement.
But negotiating efforts to end their seven-month war have stalled in part because of Hamas' demands for a lasting ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's promises to continue ground operations and crush the remaining Hamas fighters in Rafah.
Hamas's demand for a full Israeli withdrawal is something “no Israeli government can accept,” according to a statement from Netanyahu's office, which said “Hamas could militarily control the Gaza Strip again” and prepare for a new “October 7, as it promised”. To do”.
Senior Hamas officials accused Netanyahu of sabotaging the ceasefire talks out of “personal interests.” Netanyahu's office called this “an absolute lie” and said: “It is Hamas that is sabotaging every deal by not budging an inch from its extreme demands.”
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