Hamas slams US denial of Gaza ‘genocide’ amid Israeli onslaught

By Anadolu staff

ISTANBUL (AA) – Palestinian resistance group Hamas denounced US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Tuesday for denying “genocide” in the Gaza Strip amid a deadly Israeli offensive on the enclave.

Sullivan said Monday that Washington “does not believe what is happening in Gaza is a genocide.”

Such remarks “are expected from those who have been blinded, as they are full partners with Israel’s massacres and genocide against innocent civilians in Gaza, and they support the new Nazis (Israel) with all kinds of weapons,” Hamas leader Izzat al-Rishq, said in a statement.

He noted that Sullivan “mocks the minds of the world by saying that the world must call on Hamas to return to the table and agree” to a cease-fire agreement in Gaza.

“The world knows well that Hamas has not shied away from any round of negotiations and that it has agreed to the proposed agreement,” the Hamas leader said.

“It is Israel that has been evading negotiations and not adhering to the terms of the agreement.”

Hamas accepted on May 6 a cease-fire proposal drawn by Egypt and Qatar.

But Israel said the truce offer did not meet its key demands and decided to push ahead with an operation in Rafah, home to more than 1.5 million displaced people, to apply "military pressure on Hamas with the goal of making progress on freeing the hostages and the other war aims.”

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip following Palestinian resistance group Hamas' cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people.

At least 35,180 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have since been killed, and over 79,000 others injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

More than seven months into the conflict, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January said it is "plausible" that Tel Aviv is committing genocide in Gaza, ordering it to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio