Senior member of Hamas politburo Ghazi Hamad

Beirut, June 10 (RHC)-- A senior official of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas says any ceasefire deal with Israel must be permanent and force the regime out of Gaza, where it has killed at least 37,000 people since the start of an aggression more than eight months ago.

Ghazi Hamad, a senior member of Hamas politburo, said on Sunday that the group has yet to see a clear stance from the Israeli regime on a ceasefire in Gaza, adding that the resistance will resume indirect negotiations with the regime if its basic demands are met.

“We have declared to the mediators that we will return to negotiations if the issues of a permanent ceasefire and the full withdrawal of the occupiers from the Gaza Strip are considered,” Hamad told the New Arab website.

U.S. President Joe Biden announced earlier this month that his administration and Israel had developed a ceasefire proposal for Gaza which he claimed would be favorable to the Palestinians and Hamas.  However, officials within the Palestinian resistance say they have not received concrete proposals that could lead to a sustainable ceasefire agreement with the Israeli regime.

They say Israel has continued to escalate its attacks on Gaza to put more pressure on Hamas to accept the truce deal.  The Israelis launched a massive attack on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza on Saturday, killing more than 270 people and injuring hundreds more.

Hamad said that Washington may be interested in working out a ceasefire in Gaza because the war on the Palestinian territory has posed great risks to its interests in the region.

However, he said that the Israeli cabinet led by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not interested in stopping the war at all.  “They see they have achieved nothing after eight months of war,” he said.