Hamas will not accept ceasefire without conditions

Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu-Zuhri said in a press conference on Wednesday that his movement would not accept any ceasefire without meeting its conditions, Anadolu news agency reported.

Abu-Zuhri also said that Hamas had informed Cairo about its official response to the Egyptian ceasefire initiative, which his movement heard about through the mass media.

The main reason that his movement refused the Egyptian initiative, he explained, was because: “It called for a ceasefire before any Israeli obligation to meet the Palestinian conditions. This takes us back to point zero.” He added that, “The occupation does not respond unless under pressure.”

Abu-Zuhri insisted that his movement does not plan to continue fighting and called for a ceasefire that fulfils the Palestinians’ needs. “Anyone who has such an initiative can speak to us,” he said.

Regarding the international response, he said that world leaders “are trying to justify Israel’s crimes and this is unacceptable to us.” He called upon UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to frankly express his opinion about Israel’s killing of four Palestinian children on the beach.

The senior Hamas leader said that the number of casualties among children has increased, with 43 now killed and more than one quarter of the total wounded children. “The Israeli occupation wants to make glory through the blood of children,” said Abu-Zuhri.

Regarding Israel’s threats against Hamas leaders, he said: “Such threats do not scare Hamas leaders or members. The Israeli government will pay the price, not Hamas,” referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s threat that Hamas would pay a high price for fighting Israel.

He criticised the official Arab response for not caring about the Palestinians. “There is no official Arab movement to save Gaza. We feel disappointed with the official Arab regimes.” He also stressed that the Palestinians in Gaza are being exposed to a “genocide”.

Meanwhile, he called upon Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to “respect and adopt” the position of the resistance and “the decisions taken by Hamas”. Abu-Zuhri refused any decision taken by anyone that harms the persistence and resistance of the Palestinians.