Hamas says it will not join ceasefire talks this week

Hamas has said it will not join ceasefire talks this week.

Talks are due to take place on Thursday to discuss a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

However, a Hamas representative in Lebanon told Sky News that delegates from the militant group would no longer be taking part.

In a statement, Ahmad Abdul Hadi said Hamas was not against ceasefire talks "in principle".

However, he said it would not participate this week because Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "is not interested in reaching an agreement that ends the aggression completely".

"Rather he is deceiving and evading and wants to prolong the war, and even expand it at the regional level, and thus he uses negotiations as a cover to continue his aggression against our people and commit more massacres against them."

The group said it would return to negotiations if there was a "clear commitment" from the Israeli government to approve a ceasefire proposal put forward by Hamas in July.

It accused Israel of setting new conditions and also said it was angered by the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, as well as the recent deadly attack on a school compound in Gaza City.

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