Over 35 Palestinians were killed, and dozens of others injured in Rafah, after Israeli strikes hit the southern Gaza Strip city on Sunday, according to Palestinian health and civil emergency service officials.
According to a statement released by Hamas on Thursday, they informed ceasefire talks mediators that they are ready to reach a "complete agreement" including a comprehensive hostages/prisoners exchange deal if Israel "stops its war and aggression against people in Gaza," Reuters reported.
Hamas declared earlier this month that it was prepared to accept a ceasefire offer that was made to it. It was later found that the terrorist group was consenting to a modified version of the deal that Israel considered to be "unacceptable," despite the initial belief that the agreement it was alluding to was the same one that Israel had implicitly approved. Subsequently, an Egyptian intelligence service agent altered the agreement that was sent to Hamas for evaluation, according to a report by CNN, which cited three unnamed people with knowledge of the situation.
"Hamas and the Palestinian factions will not accept to be part of this policy by continuing (ceasefire) negotiations in light of the aggression, siege, starvation and genocide of our people", the Hamas statement read.
"Today, we informed the mediators of our clear position that if the occupation stops its war and aggression against our people in Gaza, our readiness (is) to reach a complete agreement that includes a comprehensive exchange deal," it added.
Israel has said that it is determined to destroy an organisation that is set on destroying it and has rejected previous offers from Hamas as inadequate. It claims that the goals of the Rafah offensive are to free captives and eliminate Hamas fighters.
After Washington declared that the Rafah attack did not constitute a significant ground operation that would require a shift in US policy, Israel declared on Tuesday that it will keep up its year-long battle on Hamas in Gaza.
Tuesday saw the first incursion of Israeli tanks into the centre of Rafah, Gaza, defying an International Court of Justice directive to cease attacks on the city, where a large number of Palestinians had sought safety from nearby bombing.
According to Palestinian health and civil emergency service sources, Israeli strikes on Rafah, a city in the southern Gaza Strip, on Sunday resulted in over 35 Palestinian deaths and numerous injuries. Hundreds of Palestinians who were forced to flee the northern region of Gaza due to Israel's retaliation against Hamas's October 7 raid last year are being housed in Rafah.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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