'No sense in engaging': Hamas rules out further truce talks as Israeli offensive displaces more Gazans

Hamas has announced it is no longer willing to engage in ceasefire negotiations with Israel, citing the intensifying humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and what it described as a deliberate campaign of mass starvation.

“There is no sense in engaging in talks or considering new ceasefire proposals as long as the hunger war and extermination war continue in the Gaza Strip,” Basem Naim, a senior member of Hamas’s political bureau and former Gaza health minister, said on Tuesday (May 6).

His remarks come as Israel prepares for an expanded military campaign across Gaza, including plans for the displacement of large sections of the population. An Israeli security official said Monday that the strategy would involve “the conquest of the Gaza Strip and the holding of the territories”, in what amounts to the most sweeping operation since the war began.

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Israeli offensive in Gaza resumes

The Israeli military resumed its offensive on 18 March, ending a two-month truce. According to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, 2,459 Palestinians have been killed since operations resumed, bringing the total death toll to 52,567. In the latest wave of attacks, Gaza’s civil defence agency reported that three people, including a young girl, were killed in Israeli airstrikes early Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation has deteriorated rapidly. Gaza has been under a complete Israeli blockade since 2 March, with aid agencies and the United Nations warning of looming famine, water shortages and a collapse of basic services. Nearly the entire population of the territory has been displaced, many of them multiple times.

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UN ‘alarmed’ by Gaza’s plans

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres is “alarmed” by Israel’s latest plans. “Gaza is, and must remain, an integral part of a future Palestinian state,” his spokesman Farhan Haq said. He added that the planned offensive would “inevitably lead to countless more civilians killed and the further destruction of Gaza”.

Military spokesperson Effie Defrin said the offensive would include “moving most of the population of the Gaza Strip… to protect them”. However, the notion of protection has been met with widespread scepticism given the scale of civilian casualties and destruction.

The French foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, condemned the Israeli plan in a radio interview on Tuesday, calling it “unacceptable” and a “violation of humanitarian law”.

Memories of Nakba

Palestinians view the proposed evacuations as a deeply traumatic echo of the Nakba, or catastrophe, when more than 700,000 Palestinians were displaced during the war surrounding the creation of Israel in 1948.

As the death toll rises and displacement deepens, the prospects for a ceasefire appear more remote than ever. Hamas, facing mounting pressure from its civilian base and watching its territory increasingly fragmented, says international pressure must be directed at Israel.

The war began on 7 October 2023, when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing 1,218 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Militants also abducted 251 people, of whom 58 remain in captivity in Gaza. The Israeli military believes 34 of them are no longer alive. “The world must stop the crimes of hunger, thirst and killings,” Naim said.

With inputs from AFP