Hamas is waiting for Israel to respond to a proposal for a truce in the Gaza Strip, Hamas chief Khalid Mash’al said on Saturday.
Speaking from the Qatari capital Doha, Mash’al said Hamas had requested the Egyptians to mediate in order to get pledges from Israel to calm the situation.
He said the tahdia, or calm, was an Egyptian initiative and that Hamas would only fall in line with it if Israel met certain conditions.
If Hamas accepted this, it would be a “tactic” in conducting the struggle with Israel, and part of what he called the resistance.
Israel fears Hamas will just use a period of calm to rearm.
Mash’al said if Israel refused to accept the truce, Hamas would “welcome confrontation.”
The Palestinian Hamas does not recognize Israel, which views it a terrorist organization.
Hamas took over the Gaza Strip from Fatah last June in a violent coup. The Gazan population has since been facing difficult living conditions because of pressure from Israel.
Hisham Abu Libda, the head of Mash’al’s office in Damascus died on Friday. There are conflicting media reports as to whether he was killed in a car accident, or was assassinated by Israeli operatives in Syria.
Israel is launching pinpoint military attacks in the Gaza Strip in order to end the almost daily rockets attacks from Gaza onto Israeli communities, and to stop the smuggling of terrorists, weapons and other illicit materials through tunnels from Sinai.
Hamas has refused to comply with international demands to recognize Israel, denounce violence and acknowledge previously signed agreements.