Hamas 'proceeding with responsibility and rationality' in negotiations

In a statement issued late on Monday evening local time in Gaza, the Hamas political bureau said it is "exerting all our efforts and energies around the clock to end this escalating suffering" in Gaza, which it called a "top priority" for its leadership.

"While we recognise the extent of the blackmail practised by the occupation through committing massacres against our people - in a desperate attempt to extract concessions it has failed to impose at the negotiating table - we affirm that we are proceeding with responsibility and rationality, and with the utmost speed possible, in completing our consultations and communications with Palestinian forces and factions, in order to reach an honourable agreement that leads to stopping the aggression, ending the genocide, and achieving our people’s goals of reconstruction," the group said.