Hamas official says movement rejects latest Israeli Gaza ceasefire proposal
Hamas has rejected the latest Israeli ceasefire proposal suggested at talks in Cairo, senior official Ali Baraka tells Reuters. A Hamas official had earlier told Reuters that no progress had been made in the negotiations.
Rafah invasion threat ‘raises questions’ about negotiations: Hamas official
Senior Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zahry has told Al Jazeera that Netanyahu’s remarks that a Rafah attack is imminent “raises questions about the purpose of resuming negotiations”.
“The success of any negotiations depends on ending the aggression,” said Zahry, adding that the group’s “demands are clear: an end to aggression against our people”.
Iran accuses US of approving deadly strike on consulate
Iran’s foreign minister has accused Washington of approving a deadly strike believed to be carried out by Israel on Tehran’s consulate in Damascus last week.
“America is responsible for this incident and must be held accountable,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian told reporters after he inaugurated a new consulate in the Syrian capital.
“The fact that the US and two European countries opposed a [UN Security Council] resolution condemning the attack on the Iranian embassy is a sign that the US gave the green light to the Zionist regime [Israel]” to carry out the attack, he said.
Asked about Amirabdollahian’s remarks, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh denied Washington was connected to the attack. “I can very forcefully push back on that and say … the US military had no involvement in that strike that took place in Damascus,” she told journalists.
A day after the April 2 consulate strike, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby dismissed as “nonsense” comments by Amirabdollahian that Washington, Israel’s main backer, bore responsibility for the attack.
