Hamas leader claims Israel trying to avert ceasefire via ‘heinous massacres’ in Gaza

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh accuses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of seeking to block a ceasefire in the war in Gaza with alleged “heinous massacres” carried out by Israeli forces, a statement by the Palestinian terror group says.

The head of the political bureau of the group calls on international mediators to act following two strikes in Gaza — one of which targeted Hamas’s military wing chief Muhammad Deif and another senior commander — that Hamas officials have claimed killed more than 100 people, without differentiating between combatants and civilians. The IDF says it targeted a fenced-off Hamas compound within the Al-Mawasi humanitarian zone in its strike at Deif, and that dozens of Hamas gunmen were there.

The Hamas statement says Haniyeh contacted officials in Qatar and Egypt, which are seeking to mediate in the war set off by Hamas’s October 7 massacre, as well as Oman and Turkey to discuss the “brutal massacres.”

He claims Hamas has shown “a positive and responsible response” to new proposals for a ceasefire and prisoner exchange, but “the Israeli position taken by Netanyahu was to place obstacles that prevent reaching an agreement,” according to the Hamas statement.

Haniyeh also denounces comments made by Netanyahu as well as “new conditions and points” in the ceasefire proposal, which was first outlined by US President Joe Biden in late May.

“This is also linked to the heinous massacres committed by the occupation army today,” he is quoted as contending.

Haniyeh calls on the mediators “to do what is necessary with the American administration and others to stop these massacres.” Qatar and Egypt have both condemned the Israeli strikes.

The statement says Haniyeh will hold more contacts.