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The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed wing, on Tuesday said that a potential truce deal with Israel must incorporate an end to Israeli “aggression” and lift the blockade of Gaza, as the Palestinian death toll from 22 days of Israeli strikes rose to 1,210.
“We don’t accept any condition of ceasefire. There is no ceasefire without the stop of the aggression and the end of the siege”, Mohammed Deif, commander of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades said in an audio address on Hamas television and radio.
Earlier in the day, a senior Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) official said that the Palestinian leadership, Hamas and Islamic Jihad are ready to agree to a 24-hour ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave.
Yasser Abed Rabbo, Secretary General of the PLO, said after discussion with Islamic Jihad and Hamas, that there was “willingness for a ceasefire and humanitarian truce for 24 hours”. A joint delegation, spearheaded by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, is set to travel to Cairo and take the next step, Rabbo added.
However, Hamas swiftly responded by saying that it has not agreed to a new truce deal and is waiting for Israel to take the first step.
“When we have an Israeli commitment… on a humanitarian truce, we will look into it but we will never declare a truce from our side while the occupation keeps killing our children”,Sami Abu Zukhri, a spokesman for Hamas, said on his Facebook page.
A string of ceasefires have failed to come to fruition as both Hamas and Israel appeared to be determined to continue fighting.
On Tuesday, over a hundred bodies were brought to morgues in Gaza after intense Israeli fire and brought the total Palestinian death toll to 1,210. Israel had increased the intensity of artillery fire overnight, especially at the Bureij refugee camp in Gaza and spreading fire to Rafah in the south and Jabaliya in the north during the afternoon.
