Hamas: No hostage release agreement

Hamas' leader in Gaza Khalil al-Hayya said in an interview for Al-Aqsa television, broadcast Wednesday, that there will be no deal with Israel for the exchange of hostages with Palestinian prisoners, unless the war in Gaza ends.

Without the end of the war, there can be no exchange of prisoners”, Mr. Hayya said in an interview for the Al-Aqsa group television channel, repeating the group's stance on ending the war.

If aggression doesn't end, why will Hamas, and in particular, restore the prisoners? “How would a fat guy or a madman lose a strong card he owns while the war is going on?”

Mr. Hayya, who led the group's negotiating team in talks with mediators from Qatar and Egypt, blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the lack of progress. Mr. Netanyah holds the Islamic group responsible for the stalled negotiations.

“Several countries and mediators are continuing to revive negotiations. We are willing to continue the effort, but it is more important to see a true will on the part of the occupant to end aggression”, said Mr. Hayya. “Reality proves Netanyah is the one that undermines the negotiations”, he added.

Speaking during a visit to Gaza on Tuesday, Prime Minister Netanyah said Hamas would not rule the Palestinian enclave after the war ended and that Israel had destroyed the Islamic group's military capabilities.

Mr. Netanyah also said that Israel had not given up trying to find the remaining 101 hostages believed to be still in Gaza, while offering a $5 million reward for each of them's return.

Hamas wants an agreement ending the war, and therefore the exchange of hostages held captive in Gaza with Palestinians imprisoned in Israel. Prime Minister Netanyahu has vowed that war could be ended only after Hamas was eradicated. VOA