Hamas dismisses U.S. Gaza truce optimism as Blinken returns to Israel

Hamas have dismissed optimistic talk by U.S. President Joe Biden that a Gaza truce is close after negotiations in Qatar.

Political bureau member Sami Abu Zuhri was responding to Biden's comment, made on Friday, that "we are closer than we ever have been" to a ceasefire.

"To say that we are getting close to a deal is an illusion," he told AFP. "We are not facing a deal or real negotiations but rather the imposing of American diktats."

Biden spoke after two days of talks in Qatar where Washington tried to bridge differences between Israel and Hamas which have been in conflict for more than ten months in the Gaza Strip.

Previous optimism during months of on-off truce talks has proven unfounded.

But the stakes have risen significantly since the late July killings in quick succession of Fuad Shukr, a top operations chief of Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, and Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh.

Their deaths prompted promises of retaliation from Iran and Hezbollah and fears of a wider Middle-East escalation.

Trying to avert a broader conflict, Western and Arab diplomats have been shuttling around the region to push for a Gaza deal which they say could help avert a wider conflagration.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due back in the region on Sunday in a bid to help seal a deal. In Israel, Blinken is expected to meet with the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials.

Israel's delegation expressed "cautious optimism" about the prospects for an agreement after returning from Doha, Netanyahu's office said Saturday.

"There is hope that the heavy pressure on Hamas from the United States and mediators will lead to the removal of their opposition to the American proposal, potentially allowing a breakthrough in the negotiations," it said.

In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of Britain, France, Germany and Italy urged all parties to "engage positively and flexibly" in the negotiations.

"We underline the importance of avoiding any escalatory action in the region which would undermine the prospect for peace," they added. "There is too much at stake."

Strikes in Lebanon, Gaza

Lebanon's health ministry said an Israeli air strike in the southern Nabatieh area killed ten Syrians, including a woman and her two children.

The strike was among the deadliest in south Lebanon since the onset of near-daily exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah following the start of the conflict.

Meanwhile, At least 17 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded in an Israeli strike in the Gaza town of Zawayda on Saturday, local health officials said, as Israel issued new evacuation orders, citing Hamas rocket fire nearby.

Elsewhere, Israel said it killed two senior Hamas militants in an airstrike on their car in Jenin in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, claiming they were involved in the killing of an Israeli.

A joint statement from the Israel Security Agency and the Israel Defense Forces identified the militants as Ahmed Abu Ara and Rafet Dawasi, both from the West Bank's northern district around Jenin.

In a statement, Hamas' Al-Qassam Brigades military wing said it was mourning the deaths of two fighters in an Israeli air strike on their vehicle in Jenin.

At least 40,099 Palestinians have been killed and 92,609 injured in Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip since October 7, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

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