A senior Hamas official underlined that Hamas has no plans to achieve a ceasefire with Israel, and said that Egypt’s proposed ceasefire was inefficient and dead right from the start.
“The Egyptian-proposed ceasefire was born dead,” Mushir Al-Masri said.
Al-Masri criticized the Egyptian foreign ministry for not presenting its proposed peace plan to Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and said, “This plan was only unilaterally given to the Israeli side.”
He noted that ceasefire needs international guarantees to make the enemy remain committed to its terms, and stressed that one of the conditions and terms that should be envisaged in such a ceasefire agreement should be “the removal of the Gaza siege”.
Al-Masri reiterated that Hamas is ready to defend the Palestinian nation with all the means in its access.
On Monday, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry announced a three-step plan, which would start with a 12-hour ceasefire that would take effect on Tuesday morning.
The ministry said the truce would be followed by the opening of border crossings, and talks in Egypt’s capital Cairo between the sides.
Israel’s cabinet is reportedly set to meet on Tuesday to discuss the proposal. Tel Aviv has ignored the UN’s call for a truce and is continuing its airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.
Israel continued to pound Gaza on Tuesday for the eighth straight day. The overall death toll from eight days of Israeli attacks on the coastal enclave has risen to over 190. The Israeli military began its latest assault on Gaza last Tuesday, July 8.
More than 1,280 Palestinians have also been injured as a result of the ongoing assaults.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that the Tel Aviv regime will not stop its attacks on Gaza.
Hamas has strongly rejected the ceasefire, stressing that Israel has initiated the war and should take responsibility for its action.
Gaza has been blockaded since June 2007. The blockade has caused a decline in the standards of living, unprecedented levels of unemployment, and unrelenting poverty.
Source: FARS
