Hamas says no point in further Gaza truce talks if Israel continues ‘hunger war’

A senior Hamas official said Tuesday the terror group was no longer interested in truce talks with Israel and urged the international community to halt Israel’s “hunger war” against Gaza.

His remarks came as France and China both condemned Israel’s plans for a major offensive in Gaza that would see the displacement of masses of people and the seizure of territory for an unspecified period.

Internationally mediated talks for a ceasefire in the war triggered by the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel have stalled, with both sides digging in on mutually unacceptable terms.

“There is no sense in engaging in talks or considering new ceasefire proposals as long as the hunger war and extermination war continue in the Gaza Strip,” former Gaza health minister Basem Naim, the Hamas official, told AFP.

He said the world must pressure the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the “crimes of hunger, thirst, and killings” in Gaza.

The comments by Naim, a Hamas political bureau member who is based in Istanbul, came a day after the Israel Defense Forces said expanded operations in Gaza would include moving “most” of its population out of combat areas and to locations where Hamas is not present.

Nevertheless, Qatar, which has helped mediate previous temporary ceasefires during the war, said Tuesday that talks for a fresh truce are ongoing.

Qatar remains in “continuous” contact with all parties, foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said, despite major obstacles to a new accord.

“Our efforts remain ongoing despite the difficulty of the situation and the continuing catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip,” Ansari told reporters at a briefing.

“There are continuous contacts between Qatar and the concerned parties,” he added.

Ansari said talks were focused on getting aid into Gaza and “the necessity to stop weaponizing aid, which Israel has been doing… since the first day of this war”.

“Aid should not be used as a weapon or a bargaining chip,” he said.

On Monday, the security cabinet approved an IDF plan for expanded operations, which an Israeli official said would entail “the conquest of the Gaza Strip and the holding of the territories.” Netanyahu, in a video message, along with military officials, said the army will stay stationed in whatever areas of the Gaza Strip are captured until all the goals of the war are reached.

Israel indicated the operation will go ahead if no ceasefire deal is reached before US President Donald Trump’s visit to the Middle East later this month.

A senior Israeli security official said Tuesday Israel would “allow a window” for a hostage deal during Trump’s visit.

“The deployment of forces prior to the start of the manoeuvre will allow a window of opportunity until the end of the US president’s visit to the region to carry out a hostage deal,” the Israeli official said.

Nearly all of Gaza’s inhabitants have been displaced, often multiple times, since the start of the war on October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian terror group Hamas led some 5,600 attackers to invade southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Terrorists also abducted 251 people as hostages to Gaza.

Israel responded with a military campaign to destroy Hamas, topple its Gaza regime, and save the hostages.

Gaza has been under total Israeli blockade since March 2 and faces a severe humanitarian crisis. The military resumed its offensive on the Gaza Strip on March 18, after the collapse of a two-month truce during which some hostages were released.

The spokesperson for Gaza’s Hamas-run civil defense agency, Mahmud Bassal, said Tuesday that three Palestinians, including a little girl, were killed in Israeli dawn attacks on different areas of Gaza. The report could not be verified, and Hamas does not differentiate between combatants and civilians in its casualty figures.

Large-scale evacuation

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot in a radio interview on Tuesday called Israel’s plan for a Gaza offensive “unacceptable,” and said its government was “in violation of humanitarian law.”

China also said it opposed Israel’s military actions in Gaza.

“China is highly concerned about the current Palestine-Israel situation,” foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said, adding: “We oppose Israel’s ongoing military actions in Gaza, and hope all parties continuously and effectively implement the ceasefire agreement.”

IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said Monday evening that the goal of the “new and intensified phase” of the war, dubbed Operation Gideon’s Chariots, “is the return of our hostages and the defeat of Hamas’s rule.”

The planned offensive will include “moving most of the population of the Gaza Strip… to protect them,” he said.

Defrin explained the IDF will implement the “Rafah model,” whereby all Hamas infrastructure is razed and the area is declared part of Israel’s buffer zone, in other parts of the Strip.

An Israeli official said earlier Monday that the new plan provided for the “conquering of Gaza,” retaining the territory, moving the Palestinian civilian population toward the south of the Strip, attacking Hamas, and preventing the terror group from taking control of humanitarian aid supplies.

A UN spokesman said Monday that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was “alarmed” by the Israeli plan that “will inevitably lead to countless more civilians killed and the further destruction of Gaza.”

Netanyahu’s remarks, along with the statements from the IDF spokesman and the official, affirmed what many government figures have said since the cabinet’s decision was announced Sunday night, namely that the IDF will no longer withdraw from captured areas as it has done during much of the first year and a half of the war against Hamas in Gaza.

Some government figures even went a step further than the prime minister, saying that Israel’s goal is to “occupy” the Strip, a word Netanyahu did not use in his statement.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar have both said that the goal of the coming Israeli offensive is the occupation of the Gaza Strip.

Responding to the cabinet decision and the statements from ministers, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum on Monday accused the government of “choosing territory over hostages,” and noted that “this is against the will of over 70 percent of the people.”

Polls have consistently shown that a large majority of the Israeli public favors a deal that would see all the hostages held in Gaza released, even if it means ending the war.

On Monday, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said at least 2,459 people had been killed since Israel resumed its campaign on March 18, bringing the overall death toll from the war to 52,567. The toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.

Israel says it has killed some 20,000 combatants in battle as of January and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel on October 7. Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.

Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are holding 59 hostages, including 58 of the 251 abducted by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023. They include the bodies of at least 35 confirmed dead by the IDF.