From the Liveblog of
Sunday, August 10, 2014
Hamas chief calls to lift Gaza blockade
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleA lasting truce must lead to the lifting by Israel of its blockade of the Gaza Strip, Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal tells AFP in an exclusive interview in Doha.
The 72-hour ceasefire Hamas reached with Israel on Sunday “is one of the ways or tactics to ensure successful negotiations or to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza,” says Mashaal.
“We insist on this goal. In the case of Israeli procrastination or continued aggression, Hamas is ready with other Palestinian factions to resist on ground and politically and… to face all possibilities,” he says.
The remarks by Mashaal, who lives in exile in Qatar, come as Israeli and Palestinian negotiators on Sunday accepted an Egyptian proposal for a 72-hour ceasefire in Gaza from one minute past midnight local time.
— AFP
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