Senior Hamas official says group wants release of largest number of Palestinian prisoners possible

Senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad tells Reuters that the terror group intends for the release of the largest number possible of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

Hamad’s comments come after Hamas earlier announced that it delivered a response to a framework agreement devised by Egypt and Qatar that aims to at least pause the fighting in Gaza and see the release of hostages.

But Hamas is demanding a complete end to the war and a permanent ceasefire — non-starters for Israel, which is looking for temporary pauses and a phased release of hostages.

“Netanyahu is trying to make everyone believe that he has or will achieve victory to preserve his coalition government,” Hamad tells Reuters.

He adds that it took Hamas some time — over a week — to issue a response because “many of [the agreement’s] issues were unclear and ambiguous.”