A senior Hamas political official assured this Thursday that the Islamic group is willing to move forward with a truce of at least five years with Israel, if an independent Palestinian state is established.
Al-Hayya was speaking to the Associated Press (AP), at a time when there continues to be an impasse in negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Israel said it would annihilate Hamas after the October 7 attacks that triggered the war.
The government opposes the creation of an independent Palestinian state on land that Israel captured in the 1967 war.
“All those who fought against the occupiers, when they became independent and obtained their rights […]they became political parties and their combat and defense forces became the national army”, he pointed out.
So far, Israel has not responded to those statements.
The Palestinian authority hopes to establish an independent state in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza, a solution that has been supported by the international community.
However, the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects it.
The war in Gaza has been going on for almost seven months, after an attack in the southern region of Israel, in which Hamas militants killed around 1,200 people and took 250 hostages.
Israeli bombing and ground offensive in Gaza have killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities.
Tags: Hamas ceasefire advances independent Palestinian state
