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Hamas official says Rafah evacuation order is a 'dangerous escalation'
Another Hamas spokesman said that the Palestinian militant group would continue negotiations towards a truce in Gaza, despite Israel's order to begin evacuating people from Rafah in the south.
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A picture taken from Rafah shows smoke billowing over Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip during Israeli bombardment on January 22, 2024, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. (AFP/AFP)
S
enior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters on Monday that Israel's Rafah evacuation order ahead of an expected offensive is a "dangerous escalation that will have consequences".
Another Hamas spokesman said that the Palestinian militant group would continue negotiations towards a truce in Gaza, despite Israel's order to begin evacuating people from Rafah in the south.
"We will continue the negotiations positively and with an open heart", Hamas spokesman Abdul Latif al-Qanou told AFP.
He reiterdated that an agreement needed to provide "for a permanent ceasefire and the fulfilment of the demands of our people".
Israel has publicly rejected a permanent ceasefire.
Qanou's comments came after Israel's military early Monday ordered the evacuation of Palestinians from eastern Rafah, ahead of a long-threatened ground invasion of the southern Gaza city, the prospect of which has triggered widespread global alarm.
After the latest round of truce talks in Cairo failed to produce a breakthrough over the weekend, Hamas's delegation headed back to Qatar where its political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, is based.
"The movement's leadership is in a state of internal and factional consultation after the last round of negotiations in Cairo," Qanou said.
Any truce reached would be the first since a week-long November ceasefire saw a hostage-prisoner swap between Israel and the Islamist movement.
