Senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya said on Thursday in an interview with the Associated Press (AP) that the terrorist organization is ready to agree to a five-year ceasefire and to disarm itself if an independent Palestinian state is established within the pre-1967 borders.
Al-Hayya is the Deputy Chairman of Hamas in Gaza.
On Wednesday, al-Hayya told Al-Aksa TV that Hamas maintained its demand that a hostage deal would include a permanent ceasefire.
To the AP, Al-Hayya added that Hamas is interested in receiving "a fully sovereign Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and the return of Palestinian refugees in accordance with international decisions."
"All the experiences of groups who fought against occupiers, when they became independent and got their rights and their country, what did these forces do? They became political parties, and their protective fighting forces became the national army," he added.
As a reminder, a senior Hamas official told The New Arab Wednesday night that the leader of the terrorist organization, Yahya Sinwar, recently came out of the tunnels on several occasions and met people in the area.
Sinwar not isolated
"Sinwar is not isolated from the reality there, despite the ongoing war and the Israeli intelligence operations that do not stop throughout the day. The discussion around him being isolated in the tunnels is nothing more than a claim on Netanyahu's part to cover up his failure to achieve the goals announced to the Israeli public and its allies. Sinwar performs his work as a leader of the movement in the Strip", said the source.
Tovah Lazaroff contributed to this report.