Hamas leader says group is still seeking hostage deal

[Pelican Press 0]

****** leader says group is still seeking ******** deal

****** leader Ismail Haniyeh says his ************ militant group is still seeking a deal for a ceasefire and ******** release after an ******** strike ******* three of his sons in an ******* in the Gaza Strip.

Speaking in Qatar while receiving condolences, Haniyeh said “the interests of the ************ people are placed above everything” when asked if the strike would affect the talks on a truce and ******** release.

“We are seeking to reach a deal but the occupation is still procrastinating and evading a response to the demands,” he told Reuters.

******** forces carried out Wednesday’s ******* without authorisation from top commanders or senior leaders, ******** media said on Thursday, raising fears among families of hostages it would derail efforts to secure their release from Gaza.

“I can only hope this won’t affect the negotiation. I hope it won’t make ****** put ******* conditions on the deal,” said Ofri Bibas Levy, whose brother Yarden Bibas was taken captive with his wife and two small children during the ******-led ******* on southern ******* on October 7.

*******’s government has faced rising pressure from families of the 133 ******** hostages still believed to be held in the ******-ruled Gaza Strip, although talks mediated by the ******* States, Egypt and Qatar have yet to secure a deal.

“The key to any agreement with the occupation starts with a permanent ceasefire and our top priority in the ongoing negotiation process is the unconditional return of the displaced and the complete withdrawal of forces from the Gaza Strip,” ****** spokesman Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua said in a statement.

“Without that, an agreement will not happen,” he added.

******** Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has faced mounting criticism from *******’s main ally, the US, over the conduct of its military campaign and the chain of command in pursuing its objectives.

This has been prompted by the rising number of ************ civilians ******* and stoked most recently by a strike that ******* foreign and ************ aid workers in Gaza.

*******’s Walla news agency reported that neither Netanyahu nor Defence Minister Yoav Gallant had been told in advance of Wednesday’s strike on Haniyeh’s sons, which was co-ordinated by the ******** military and the Shin Bet intelligence service.

Quoting senior ******** officials, it reported that the three ****** sons – Amir, Mohammad and Hazem Haniyeh – had been targeted as fighters and not because they were the sons of ******’ political leader.

The ******** military did not comment on reports that four of Haniyeh’s grandchildren had also been *******.

The military declined to comment on Walla and other reports.

Haniyeh, 61, told Reuters his sons were not active ****** fighters.

“These claims are ***** to justify this ****** and massacre,” he said.

“They were going on Eid day visiting relatives,” he added in a reference to Eid al-Fitr celebrating the end of the ******* holy month of Ramadan.

The ************* ******* Hayom daily quoted unnamed military officials saying the strike was carried out in accordance with procedure but said there was a question about whether hitting such a sensitive target should have been carried out without first consulting superiors.

The Haaretz newspaper, a relentless critic of Netanyahu and his government, called the killings and last week’s ************** of senior Iranian officials in the Iranian embassy in Damascus “proactive acts of aggression, designed to thwart any chance of a ******** deal”.

Global calls for a ceasefire have been growing as the war has entered its seventh month but there has been little sign of progress in the talks.

****** is demanding an end to the ******** offensive, a withdrawal of ******** forces and permission for Gaza’s displaced Palestinians to return to their homes.

******* wants to secure the return of the hostages but says it will not end the war until ****** is destroyed as a military force and that it is still planning to ******** the southern city of Rafah where more than a million civilians have taken refuge.

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