Hamas senior official claims terror group wants truce deal, but Netanyahu wants war to continue

Hamas wants calm and a hostage deal, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants the war to continue, Hamas senior official Khalil Al-Hayya claims.

“Hamas did not suspend nor withdraw from the negotiations. The occupation turned against the mediators’ proposal,” Al-Hayya says in comments to Al Araby TV published by Hamas.

The Palestinian terror group said earlier today that efforts to agree to a ceasefire and hostage deal were back at square one after Israel effectively rejected its counter-proposal.

Hamas has claimed that it agreed to the mediators’ proposal for a ceasefire on Monday but the US says it merely provided a counter-proposal to the offer crafted by brokers and green-lit by Israel. Israeli officials dismissed the Hamas document as nothing like the proposal Israel had green-lit, calling it a “ruse,” and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it does not meet Israel’s vital requirements.