Ismail Haniyeh
Ismail HaniyehWissam Nassar/Flash 90

The head of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, and other senior members of the terrorist organization, insisted in a meeting on Friday with UN envoy to the Middle East Nickolay Mladenov that the Palestinian Arab factions in Gaza are not behind the two rockets that were fired at Israel this week, Channel 13 News reported.

On Thursday, a rocket from Gaza hit the building of a hesder yeshiva in the city of Sderot. There were no injuries but the building sustained damage.

A day earlier, a rocket that was fired from Gaza into Israeli territory was intercepted by the Iron Dome. There were no reports of physical injuries or damages.

According to the report, which cited the Palestinian Arab Al-Quds newspaper, Hamas officials told the UN envoy that they were investigating who was behind the rocket fire, and that they would not allow the efforts to achieve calm with Israel to fail.

The sources also noted that Haniyeh made clear to Mladenov that Hamas and the other factions want to continue the efforts to achieve calm and that they would allow time for progress to be made towards the ultimate goal of lifting the siege fully and meeting all the demands of the Palestinian people.

According to the report, Haniyeh asked Mladenov to pressure Israel to commit to the understandings of the truce and that Israel "stop reducing the fishing space over baseless excuses." In addition, Haniyeh demanded that Israel allow the entry of dual-use materials that have been banned from entering Gaza, allow the expansion of imports and exports, ease the movement of patients and traders at the Erez crossing, and not attempt to link these measures to internal disputes.

The report also said that Mladenov stressed to Haniyeh and the Hamas members that the projects agreed upon for the Gaza Strip are still being worked out, and that serious steps are being taken to implement them. He also said at the meeting that Israel was interested in peace and the implementation of the agreements. In addition, he confirmed to Haniyeh and the Hamas leadership that Qatari money would continue to be transferred to Gaza and that projects related to employment and health in Gaza would be implemented.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)