Hamas says Netanyahu comments intended to undermine truce prospects

A top Hamas official accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Friday of issuing statements intended to torpedo prospects for a truce in the nearly seven-month war in Gaza.

Hossam Badran told AFP that Hamas was in the process of conducting internal dialogues within its leadership and with allied militant groups before negotiators return to Cairo to continue negotiations towards a truce.

But he warned that Netanyahu's repeated statements insisting he will send troops into the territory's far southern city of Rafah were calculated to "thwart any possibility of concluding an agreement".

"Netanyahu was the obstructionist in all previous rounds of dialogue and previous negotiations, and it is clear that he still is," he said in a telephone interview.

"He is not interested in reaching an agreement, and therefore he says words in the media to thwart these current efforts."

Mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the United States have proposed a deal that would halt fighting for 40 days and exchange Israeli hostages for potentially thousands of Palestinian prisoners, according to details released earlier by Britain.

The outcome of the indirect negotiations has remained highly uncertain, with back and forth over the number of hostages that could be released, and profound differences over the scope of any agreement.

Badran reiterated that Hamas's goal remains a lasting ceasefire and "a complete and comprehensive withdrawal of the occupation forces from the Gaza Strip".