Haniyeh added when asked whether their killing would affect the talks, “Our Palestinian people have their interests before anything, and our sons and daughters are part of this people and part of this process,” while receiving condolences in Qatar.
He told Reuters: “We are seeking an agreement, but until this moment, the Zionist enemy is procrastinating and evading responding to the demands to provide the required entitlement to reach an agreement.”
Israeli media said on Thursday that Israeli forces carried out the attack on Wednesday without consulting senior commanders or political leaders, risking complicating efforts to free the hostages still in Gaza.
Ofri Bibas-Levy, whose brother, Yarden Bibas, was captured along with his wife and two young children during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, said: “I have no hope other than that this will not affect the negotiations. I hope this will not make Hamas put tougher conditions on the agreement.”
The Israeli government is facing increasing pressure from the families of the 133 Israeli hostages to ensure their release, and talks brokered by the United States, Egypt and Qatar have not yet reached an agreement.
Hamas spokesman Abdul Latif al-Qanou said in a statement, “The key to any agreement with the occupation is based on a permanent ceasefire, and our most prominent priorities in the ongoing negotiating process are the return of the displaced without restrictions and a complete withdrawal of forces from the Gaza Strip.”
Netanyahu's government is also facing increasing criticism from the United States, Israel's main ally, for the conduct of its military campaign and the chain of command in achieving its goals.
This was driven by the high number of Palestinian civilian deaths, which was exacerbated recently by bombings that killed foreign and Palestinian aid workers in Gaza.
International calls for a ceasefire escalated as the war entered its seventh month, but this did not greatly affect the progress of the talks.
Hamas demands an end to the Israeli attack, the withdrawal of Israeli forces, and allowing the displaced from Gaza to return to their homes.
Israel wants to guarantee the return of the hostages, but it says that it will not end the war until it eliminates the military power of Hamas, and that it is still planning to invade the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, where more than a million civilians are sheltering.
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