Hamas says Palestinian resistance factions ‘are doing everything in their power to keep the Israeli captives alive'
The Palestinian resistance group Hamas blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday for undermining a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement in the Gaza Strip.
"Netanyahu had a premeditated decision to return to war to sabotage the agreement,” Hamas said in a statement.
"Netanyahu bears full responsibility for the failure of the agreement, and the international community and mediators must pressure him to halt the aggression and return to negotiations," it added.
Hamas said Palestinian resistance factions “are doing everything in their power to keep the Israeli captives alive.”
“The indiscriminate Zionist (Israeli) bombing is putting their lives at risk,” it warned. “Every time the (Israeli) occupation tried to recover its captives by force, they returned in coffins.”
On Tuesday, the Israeli daily Maariv said that there was no proposal being discussed at present for a Gaza ceasefire, adding that the Israeli army was preparing for a new phase of its ongoing assault on Gaza.
The newspaper, citing an Israeli source, said the assault aims to increase pressure on Hamas to show flexibility towards US envoy Steve Witkoff's proposal to release 10 captives in return of a 50-day ceasefire, release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails, and start of negotiations for the second phase of the ceasefire agreement signed in Jan. 19.
The first phase of the Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement ended in early March, but Netanyahu refused to enter negotiations for the second phase of the deal. Instead, he wants to extend the first phase of the deal.
Hamas has refused to proceed under these conditions, insisting that Israel abide by the terms of the ceasefire and immediately start negotiations for the second phase, which includes a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a complete halt to the war.
Israel estimates that there are 59 Israeli captives in Gaza, 24 of whom are still alive. More than 9,500 Palestinians, meanwhile, are languishing in Israeli prisons, suffering from torture, starvation, and medical neglect, many of whom have died, according to Palestinian and Israeli human rights.
The Israeli army launched a surprise aerial campaign on the Gaza Strip on March 18, killing 830 people and injuring nearly 1,800 others despite a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement that took hold in January.
Nearly 50,200 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and over 113,700 injured in a brutal Israeli military onslaught on Gaza since October 2023.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
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