Israeli operations in the city of Rafah and its border crossing "aim to obstruct the mediators' efforts," said Ezzat al-Rishq, a member of Hamas' political bureau, in a statement, reaffirming the movement's commitment "to accept the proposal presented by the mediators."

The delegation sent to Egypt by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) to continue negotiations on a possible ceasefire agreement left Cairo for Qatar today, with no indication of any progress in the talks so far.

Al-Rishq stressed once again that Hamas "maintains its position," which it conveyed to the mediators, after accepting on Monday the proposal from Egypt and Qatar, rejected by Israel, which on Tuesday began a military incursion into Rafah, after issuing a new evacuation order for the eastern part of the city, where about 1.2 million Palestinians are concentrated (half of the population of that Palestinian territory), displaced due to Israel's war against Hamas.

In addition to considering that the Israeli offensive on the city located in the southernmost part of Gaza and the seizure of the Palestinian side of the border crossing with Egypt aim to hinder the mediators' efforts, the Hamas official also argued that they are intended to "increase the aggression and the war of extermination" in the Gaza Strip, as reported by the Palestinian daily Filastin, linked to the Islamist movement.

Hours earlier, Al-Rishq had already stated that the group's acceptance of the ceasefire proposal presented by Egypt and Qatar "confused" Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and put him in a "dilemma."

"Israel is not being serious about reaching an agreement and is using the negotiations as a cover to invade Rafah," he argued.

On October 7 of last year, Israel declared war on the Gaza Strip to "eradicate" Hamas after the latter carried out an unprecedented attack on Israeli territory hours earlier, killing 1,163 people, mostly civilians.

In power in Gaza since 2007 and classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Israel, Hamas also took 250 hostages, 128 of whom remain in captivity and at least 35 have since died, according to the latest figures from the Israeli authorities.

The war, which today entered its 216th day and continues to threaten to spread throughout the Middle East, has so far killed nearly 35,000 people in the Gaza Strip, injured at least 78,404 and left thousands missing, presumably buried in the rubble, mostly civilians, according to updated figures from local authorities.

The conflict has also caused almost two million displaced people, plunging the overcrowded and impoverished Palestinian enclave into a serious humanitarian crisis, with more than 1.1 million people in a "catastrophic hunger situation" that is claiming victims - "the highest number ever recorded" by the UN in food security studies in the world.

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