Israel says Hamas’s rejection of a current proposal for a Gaza truce deal with Israel shows the “damage” done by the UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, BBC reports.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel would not surrender to what it called the Palestinian armed group’s “delusional demands”.
They include an end to the war and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces.
Israeli air strikes and fighting on the ground across Gaza have continued.
More than 32,400 people have been killed in the territory since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, including 81 people in the past 24 hours, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
The conflict began after Hamas gunmen attacked southern Israel on 7 October, killing about 1,200 people and taking 253 others as hostages.
Israel reacted furiously on Monday after the UN Security Council adopted for the first time a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in the war in Gaza following months of deadlock over the issue.
Fourteen council members, including the UK, voted in favour of the text, which also demanded the unconditional release of all remaining hostages and an urgent expansion of humanitarian aid deliveries.
The US – Israel’s closest ally and military supporter – criticised the resolution for failing to condemn Hamas for the 7 October attacks.
But in a sign of its increasing frustration at the way Israel is conducting the war, the US abstained, saying it fully supported the key objectives.
In protest, Israel cancelled a planned visit by an Israeli delegation to Washington to discuss its planned ground offensive in the southern city of Rafah, where more than a million people have sought shelter. The US has warned that a full-scale assault could cause a humanitarian catastrophe.
Later, Hamas put out a statement rejecting the latest truce plan put forward by mediators from the US, Qatar and Egypt at indirect talks in Doha.
The group said it was sticking to its original demands for “a permanent ceasefire that would lead to a full withdrawal” of Israeli forces from Gaza and the return of displaced Palestinians to their homes.
On Tuesday morning, the Israeli prime minister’s office said Hamas’s stance “clearly demonstrates its utter disinterest in a negotiated deal and attests to the damage done by the UN Security Council’s resolution”.
“Israel will not address Hamas’s delusional demands,” it added. “Israel will pursue and achieve its just war objectives: Destroying Hamas’s military and governmental capacities, release of all the hostages, and ensuring Gaza will not pose a threat to the people of Israel in the future.”
Hamas’s political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, said during a visit to Iran – which arms and funds the group – that the resolution showed Israel was experiencing “unprecedented political isolation”.
There was no immediate public response from the US, although the Times of Israel website cited an unnamed senior Biden administration official as calling the Israeli statement “inaccurate in almost every respect”.
“The description of the Hamas response reflects news reports and not the actual substance of that response, which was prepared before the UN vote even took place,” the official was quoted as saying.
Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman, Majed al-Ansari, told a news conference in Doha that the indirect talks “are ongoing, they have not stopped”.
“There is no timetable for negotiations, but we are continuing with our partners in mediation efforts,” he said, adding that they were currently taking place “at the level of technical teams”.
However, Israeli media and Reuters news agency cited Israeli officials as saying that Israel had recalled its negotiating team from Qatar after 10 days of talks.
On the ground in Gaza, the latest Israeli air strikes reportedly killed dozens of Palestinians.
Palestinian media and local health officials said at least 18 people, including nine children, were killed in a strike on a residential building on the outskirts of Rafah. They said the home in the Musabah area belonged to the Abu Naqira family and that dozens of displaced people had been sheltering there.
