Source: Al-Manar TV, 22-5-2008
Hamas insisted on Thursday there would be no Gaza truce unless "Israel" lifts its blockade of the territory. "The Palestinian groups will not give a truce to "Israel" if "Israel" does not accept our demand to end the closure, open borders and stop aggression," Hamas official Ismail Haniya said in a statement.
Haniya, a former Palestinian prime minister, said the Hamas delegation was returning from Cairo where Egypt has been battling to mediate a truce in Gaza between "Israel" and the Palestinians.
"Israel" has made agreement to a truce conditional on progress in negotiations for the release of Gilad Shalit, an "Israeli" occupation soldier captured almost two years ago by Gaza resistance fighters in a deadly cross-border raid.
Hamas wants some 450 Palestinian detainees released from "Israeli" jails in exchange for Shalit, and insists the swap is an entirely separate issue from the proposed truce.
Violence in and around the Gaza Strip has clouded renewed negotiations between "Israel" and the Palestinians, increasing doubts that they will achieve their stated aim of reaching a deal by the end of the year.
"Israel" claims it maintains the crippling blockade of the territory in a bid to forcing fighters to stop firing rockets and mortar rounds at the Zionist entity.