Khalil al-Hayya
Khalil al-HayyaReuters

Khalil al-Hayya, a member of the Hamas political bureau and a senior member of the movement's leadership in the Gaza Strip, said that Hamas was ready to discuss any initiative aimed at lifting the “siege” and starting negotiations on a prisoner swap.

In an interview with the Hamas newspaper Falastin, al-Hayya said that "until now the occupation was not seriously prepared to pay the price (in an exchange deal) and was not prepared to enter this track."

"Our conditions (for the exchange deal) reached the occupation through a number of officials," he said.

Al-Hayya said that if Israel were willing to negotiate through a mediator, Hamas would put all the issues on the negotiating table.

According to him, the “popular struggle” against Israel will continue in addition to the “armed struggle” according to models determined by the leadership of the struggle.

Referring to the threat of the PA to impose further sanctions on the Gaza Strip, al-Hayya said that if the PA chairman went this way, he would find himself in a conflict not only with Hamas but with the entire “Palestinian people.”

"Mahmoud Abbas lost his discretion and his mind and lost his belonging to the homeland and to Palestine, and in his actions he is like a person who imposes sanctions on a nation that is not the people to which he belongs, and he seems to show more compassion for the occupation than for his people in the depths of the security coordination."