Israeli military strikes kill at least 32 Palestinians on Thursday

18/4/2025 5:49

Hamas wants a comprehensive deal to end the war in Gaza and

swap all Israeli hostages for Palestinians jailed in Israel, a

senior official from the Palestinian militant group said,

rejecting Israel's offer of an interim truce.



In a televised speech, Khalil Al-Hayya, the group's Gaza

chief who leads its negotiating team, said the group would no

longer agree to interim deals, adopting a position that Israel

is unlikely to accept and potentially further delaying an end to

the devastating attacks that restarted in recent weeks.



Instead, Hayya said Hamas was ready to immediately

engage in "comprehensive package negotiations" to release all

remaining hostages in its custody in return for an end to the

Gaza war, the release of Palestinians jailed by Israel, and the

reconstruction of Gaza.



"Netanyahu and his government use partial agreements as

a cover for their political agenda, which is based on continuing

the war of extermination and starvation, even if the price is

sacrificing all his prisoners (hostages)," said Hayya, referring

to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.



"We will not be part of passing this policy."



Egyptian mediators have been working to revive the

January ceasefire agreement that halted fighting in Gaza before

it broke down last month, but there has been little sign of

progress with both Israel and Hamas blaming each other.



"Hamas’s comments demonstrate they are not interested in

peace but perpetual violence. The terms made by the Trump

Administration have not changed: release the hostages or face

hell," said National Security Council spokesperson James Hewitt.



The latest round of talks on Monday in Cairo to restore

the ceasefire and free Israeli hostages ended with no apparent

breakthrough, Palestinian and Egyptian sources said.



Israel had proposed a 45-day truce in Gaza to allow

hostage releases and potentially begin indirect talks to end the

war. Hamas has already rejected one of its conditions - that it

lay down its arms. In his speech, Hayya accused Israel of

offering a counterproposal with "impossible conditions."



Hamas released 38 hostages under a ceasefire that began

on January 19. In March, Israel's military resumed its ground

and aerial offensive on Gaza, abandoning the ceasefire after

Hamas rejected proposals to extend the truce without ending the

war.



Israeli officials say that the offensive will continue

until the remaining 59 hostages are freed and Gaza is

demilitarized. Hamas insists it will free hostages only as part

of a deal to end the war and has rejected demands to lay down

its arms.



Israeli military strikes killed at least 32

Palestinians, including women and children, across the Gaza

Strip on Thursday, local health authorities said.



One of those strikes killed six people and wounded

several others at a UN-run school in Jabalia in northern Gaza

Strip. The Israeli military said the strike targeted a Hamas

command center.



The war was triggered by Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack

on southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251

taken hostage to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.



Since then, more than 51,000 Palestinians have been

killed in the Israeli offensive, according to local health

authorities.