Hamas has said it will not join ceasefire talks this week.

Talks are due to take place on Thursday to discuss a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

However, a Hamas representative in Lebanon told Sky News that delegates from the militant group would no longer be taking part.

In a statement, Ahmad Abdul Hadi said Hamas was not against ceasefire talks “in principle”.

However, he said it would not participate this week because Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “is not interested in reaching an agreement that ends the aggression completely”.

“Rather he is deceiving and evading and wants to prolong the war, and even expand it at the regional level, and thus he uses negotiations as a cover to continue his aggression against our people and commit more massacres against them.”

The group said it would return to negotiations if there was a “clear commitment” from the Israeli government to approve a ceasefire proposal put forward by Hamas in July.

It accused Israel of setting new conditions and also said it was angered by the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, as well as the recent deadly attack on a school compound in Gaza City.

Mediators from Qatar, Egypt and the US are attempting to broker an agreement to end the war.

They have spent months trying to get the sides to agree to a three-phase plan in which Hamas would release the remaining hostages captured in its 7 October attack in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, and Israel would withdraw from Gaza.

However the latest Hamas statement comes as reports have emerged that US secretary of state Antony Blinken has postponed his trip to the Middle East.

Mr Blinken was due to depart on Tuesday but Axios reported the top diplomat’s travel was delayed over “uncertainty
about the situation”.

Earlier in the day, Hamas fired two rockets aimed at Tel Aviv for the first time in months.

On Monday, US officials had said they expected Thursday’s talks to continue as planned.

Be the first to get Breaking News

Install the Sky News app for free

A US State Department official has said Qatar – which has often taken a mediating role – will seek to convince Hamas to participate in the peace talks.

“Our partners in Qatar have assured us that they will work to have Hamas represented,” US State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said during a briefing with reporters on Tuesday.

After more than 10 months of fighting, the Palestinian death toll is nearing 40,000 in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry there.

Related posts:

New Zealand to open travel bubble with Australia – but ‘flyer beware’ New photo of Princess Latifa in Iceland emerges as campaign to free her disbands Thirteen Britons among hundreds allowed to leave Kabul on first international flight ‘I’ve never been so ashamed of my country’: Russian diplomat resigns over Putin’s war ‘For the first time, I saw that men were afraid’: Ukrainians flee town to escape potential nuclear disaster Blow for Zelenskyy as he loses key minister in battle against Russia What is Marburg virus? The Ebola-like disease spreading in parts of Africa France’s first lady calls out ‘cowardice’ of attack on her great-nephew Chinese state media appears to censor one of its own videos Why the prospect of this conflict being ‘contained to Gaza’ seems improbable China says it has detained a person accused of collecting state secrets for MI6 Queen hails ‘brilliant’ all-female yacht crew after round-the-world race victory