Izzat Al-Rishq, a member of the political bureau of Hamas, warned on Monday that the Israeli hostages will not see the light of day unless pressure is exerted on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and an exchange deal is forced on him.
"Everyone knows that Netanyahu and his Nazi government are the factor that is thwarting the agreement," Al-Rishq said, in comments quoted by the Palestinian Arab Safa news agency.
He reiterated the demands of Hamas, including a complete cessation of hostilities and a complete withdrawal of Israel from the Gaza Strip.
He noted that "Netanyahu's new conditions", as he put it, "brought us back to the starting point" of the negotiations.
Al-Rishq said that the claims in Israel and the US about new demands by Hamas are "a lie and an attempt to evade their responsibility for thwarting the negotiations and stopping the aggression against our Palestinian people."
In the meantime, Hamas is launching another campaign aimed at Israeli society and the families of the hostages in what is being portrayed as an attempt to encourage them to pressure the government to approve the exchange deal according to terms of Hamas.
In a series of postings on Telegram, the following messages were posted: "Is the next message a release as part of a deal or killing with a bomb?", "Military pressure = death and failure. Exchange deal = freedom and life" and "Netanyahu creates dozens of Ron Arads."