Hamas wants a comprehensive deal to end the war in Gaza and swap all Israeli hostages for Palestinians jailed in Israel, a senior official from the Palestinian militant group said, rejecting Israel’s offer of an interim truce.

In a televised speech, Khalil Al-Hayya, the group’s Gaza chief who leads its negotiating team, said the group would no longer agree to interim deals, adopting a position that Israel is unlikely to accept and potentially further delaying an end to the devastating attacks that restarted in recent weeks, Reuters reported.

Instead, Hayya said Hamas was ready to immediately engage in “comprehensive package negotiations” to release all remaining hostages in its custody in return for an end to the Gaza war, the release of Palestinians jailed by Israel, and the reconstruction of Gaza.

“Netanyahu and his government use partial agreements as a cover for their political agenda, which is based on continuing the war of extermination and starvation, even if the price is sacrificing all his prisoners (hostages),” said Hayya, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“We will not be part of passing this policy.”

Egyptian mediators have been working to revive the January ceasefire agreement that halted fighting in Gaza before it broke down last month, but there has been little sign of progress with both Israel and Hamas blaming each other.

“Hamas’s comments demonstrate they are not interested in peace but perpetual violence. The terms made by the Trump Administration have not changed: release the hostages or face hell,” said National Security Council spokesperson James Hewitt.

The latest round of talks on Monday in Cairo to restore the ceasefire and free Israeli hostages ended with no apparent breakthrough, Palestinian and Egyptian sources said.

Israel had proposed a 45-day truce in Gaza to allow hostage releases and potentially begin indirect talks to end the war. Hamas has already rejected one of its conditions – that it lay down its arms. In his speech, Hayya accused Israel of offering a counterproposal with “impossible conditions.”

Hamas released 38 hostages under a ceasefire that began on January 19. In March, Israel’s military resumed its ground and aerial offensive on Gaza, abandoning the ceasefire after Hamas rejected proposals to extend the truce without ending the war.

Israeli officials say that the offensive will continue until the remaining 59 hostages are freed and Gaza is demilitarized. Hamas insists it will free hostages only as part of a deal to end the war and has rejected demands to lay down its arms.

ISRAELI STRIKES

On Tuesday, the armed wing of Hamas armed said the group had lost contact with militants holding Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander after the Israeli army attacked their hideout. Alexander is a New Jersey native and a 21-year-old soldier in the Israeli army.

The armed wing later released a video warning hostages’ families that their “children will return in black coffins with their bodies torn apart from shrapnel from your army.”

Israeli military strikes killed at least 32 Palestinians, including women and children, across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, local health authorities said.

One of those strikes killed six people and wounded several others at a UN-run school in Jabalia in northern Gaza Strip. The Israeli military said the strike targeted a Hamas command center.

The war was triggered by Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, more than 51,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive, according to local health authorities.

Iran’s right to enrich uranium is not negotiable, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Wednesday ahead of a second round of talks set to take place in Rome this weekend with the United States about Tehran’s disputed nuclear programme.

The talks, which began in Oman on Saturday with the Gulf state acting as mediator, are the first between the two adversaries under U.S. President Donald Trump, who has threatened military action if there is no deal.

Araqchi was responding to a comment made on Tuesday by top U.S. negotiator Steve Witkoff, who said the Islamic Republic must “stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment” to reach a deal with Washington.

“We have heard contradictory statements from Witkoff, but real positions will be made clear at the negotiating table,” Araqchi was quoted by Iranian state media as saying in Tehran.

“We are ready to build trust regarding possible concerns over Iran’s enrichment, but the principle of enrichment is not negotiable.”

Last weekend’s U.S.-Iran talks in Oman were described by both sides as positive and constructive.

Western powers say Iran is refining uranium to a high degree of fissile purity beyond what is justifiable for a civilian energy programme and close to the level suitable for atomic bomb fuel. Iran has long denied seeking nuclear weapons.

Iranian media said on Wednesday, without citing sources, that the second round of talks would be held in the Italian capital Rome on Saturday. It was earlier announced that the talks would resume in Oman.

Sources briefed on the matter confirmed the change of venue to Reuters.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei compared the venue of the Iran-US nuclear talks to a goalpost in a post on X on Wednesday, saying moving it might “jeopardize any beginning” and that changing it was a “professional error”.

A diplomatic source said Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog whose inspectors monitor Iranian nuclear sites, had also been invited to Rome for the occasion of the talks.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani confirmed the talks would be in held in Rome but said Italy would not be involved.

“Italy simply wants to be a bridge for peace; we have no ambitions of any kind. Such a delicate negotiation is up to the parties involved and their willingness to achieve a concrete result,” Tajani said in a statement.

On Thursday Araqchi will deliver a message from Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to Russian President Vladimir Putin during a trip to Russia, state media reported.

“Amidst important global developments, close, continuous and trusting communication between Iranian and Russian authorities will serve regional as well as international peace and stability,” Iranian Ambassador Kazem Jalali wrote on X.

The Kremlin on Tuesday declined to comment when asked if Russia was ready to take control of Iran’s stocks of enriched uranium as part of a possible future nuclear deal between Iran and the United States.

Britain’s Guardian newspaper reported that Tehran was expected to reject a U.S. proposal to transfer its stockpile of enriched uranium to a third country such as Russia as part of an deal Washington is seeking to curb Iran’s nuclear activity.

U.S. President Donald Trump blocked a planned Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear sites in favor of negotiating a deal with Iran to limit its nuclear program, the New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing administration officials and others.

Israel had developed plans to attack the sites in May, according to the newspaper, which added that the goal was to set back Iran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon by a year or more, according to Reuters.

The New York Times said U.S. assistance was required not just to defend Israel from Iranian retaliation but also ensure the attack was successful.

After months of internal debate, Trump made the decision to seek negotiations with Iran rather than support military action.

The U.S. and Iran held talks in Oman last Saturday – the first time during a Trump administration, including his 2017-2021 first term. Both countries described the talks as “positive” and “constructive”.

A second round is scheduled for Saturday, and a source briefed on the planning said the meeting was likely to be held in Rome.