Hamas Insists On Permanent Cease-Fire In Gaza: Senior Official

Hamas insists that any hostage swap deal with Israel must include a permanent cease-fire in Gaza, the head of the resistance group's international relations office said Sunday.

In an interview with the Al-Aqsa TV channel posted on Telegram on Sunday, Mousa Abu Marzouk revealed that there would be a meeting of Palestinian factions in China and they hoped it would lead to an end to any divisions.

The Palestinian arena has suffered political and geographical divisions since 2007 with Hamas and its government controlling the Gaza Strip while Fatah's leadership under President Mahmoud Abbas governs the West Bank.

China revealed last Tuesday that Beijing had recently hosted "national reconciliation" meetings between the two main Palestinian factions following similar talks in Moscow in February aimed at resolving internal disputes and divisions between them.

Regarding negotiations between Hamas and Israel for an agreement, Abu Marzouk said "the resistance insists that the agreement include a permanent cease-fire."

"We seek to include Russia, Türkiye and China as guarantors," he said.

Referring to Washington's alignment with Tel Aviv, Abu Marzouk said "the United States supports Israel with all it has, and there are other poles in the world with which we seek relations," without elaborating.

He added that the US and Israel "contacted all the countries in the world at the beginning of the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation to condemn Hamas."

Abu Marzouk noted that "the massive destruction that has occurred in the Gaza Strip has not happened in any other war, which made the world turn against Israel and revealed its true face to the world."

He attributed the UN Security Council's inability to pass a binding resolution on Israel to the "American barrier."

"The (Israeli) occupation fears entering (the southern Gaza city of) Rafah because it will be their disgrace and they will only reap failure.

"The leaders of the (Israeli) entity are divided and seeking their own interests, and we are confident of victory," he added.

"The leaders of the occupation admit defeat to Hamas, and (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu continues to be stubborn."

Earlier in the day, Hamas said two days of talks in Egypt to reach a cease-fire in Gaza and hostage swap had ended.

In a statement, Hamas said its delegation will leave the Egyptian capital Cairo tonight for consultations with the group's leadership.

"Hamas is determined to reach an agreement that meets the national demands of our people," the statement said.

Egypt's state-run Al-Qahera News channel, citing a well-placed source, said Hamas will return to Cairo on Tuesday with a "final response" to an Egyptian proposal for a cease-fire deal in Gaza.

According to the source, all details related to the Gaza cease-fire were discussed between an Egyptian security delegation and the Hamas delegation.

The source cited "great progress" in the talks without providing any further details.

Early Sunday, Netanyahu rejected calls to end Israel's Gaza offensive in return for a hostage swap deal with Hamas, claiming that ending the war now would keep the Palestinian group in power.

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh accused Netanyahu of undermining efforts to reach a cease-fire deal in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas, which is believed to be holding more than 130 Israeli hostages, demands an end to Israel's ongoing offensive on Gaza in return for any hostage deal with Tel Aviv.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip in retaliation for a cross-border attack on Oct. 7 last year by Hamas, which killed about 1,200 people. Nearly 34,700 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, the vast majority of whom have been women and children, and 78,000 others injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Nearly seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave's population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January said it is "plausible" that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and ordered Tel Aviv to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians there.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala -