GAZA — Hamas has reportedly informed mediators that it will not participate in any negotiation for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip or a prisoner exchange deal after Israel's attack on the southernmost Gazan city of Rafah on Sunday night.
The decision was made in response to the Israeli army's "targeting of tents housing displaced civilians in the northwest of Rafah, killing and wounding dozens of them", Xinhua news agency reported, citing a Hamas source.
The source on Monday also said that the Hamas leadership had not received any official notification from mediators in Egypt or Qatar regarding the resumption of negotiations.
At least 45 Palestinians, including children and women, were killed in Israeli airstrikes on tents for displaced people near Rafah city, Gaza's health authorities said in a press statement on Monday.
Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan said in a press conference in Beirut on Monday that Israel would not receive the hostages "except according to our conditions presented to the mediators."
Hamdan added that Hamas's conditions for reaching a deal, including a permanent ceasefire, remained unchanged.