Hamas will not allow Israel to establish a buffer zone

Deputy head of Hamas's political bureau Ismail Haneyya has affirmed that the Palestinian resistance does not seek another confrontation with the Israeli occupation, but it will not allow it to establish a buffer zone within the Gaza border.

"We are not calling for a new war, but we will not tolerate the occupation's incursions, its attempts to impose faits accomplis and the continued blockade on the Gaza Strip," Haneyya said in his Friday khutba (sermon) in Gaza.

"Our borders are witnessing confrontations with the occupation [army] after it infiltrated 100 or 150 meters into Gaza at the pretext of searching for tunnels," he noted.

"The Hamas Movement has sent several messages via intermediary parties stating that the resistance will not allow a new equation to be imposed within the borders of Gaza or a buffer zone to be established," the Hamas official stated, pointing out that these points were part of the 2014 ceasefire agreement in Cairo.

He emphasized that despite the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the areas it had entered, but its incursions were a blatant violation of the Egyptian-brokered truce agreement and prompted a response from the resistance.