A senior Hamas leader confirmed that the movement refuses to hold negotiations regarding the exchange of prisoners and hostages with the occupation authorities during the Israeli war on the besieged Gaza Strip, while clarifying that Hamas is “open to any initiative to end the war.”

The head of the Hamas political department in Gaza, Bassem Naim, said in statements reported by Reuters on Tuesday, “There will be no negotiation about the prisoners before the aggression stops, and we are open to any initiative that reduces the burden on our people.”

This comes as Israel seeks to move on the path of negotiations, in an attempt to alleviate the internal pressures facing Benjamin Netanyahu's government as a result of the escalating calls for more diplomatic efforts to "bring them back alive."

In this context, during a session he held with foreign ambassadors working in Israel and diplomatic staff representing more than 80 countries, Israeli President Historic Herzog claimed that Israel is “ready for a truce in Gaza, in exchange for the release of detainees.”

Herzog said, "Israel is ready to hold another humanitarian truce (he did not specify whether it is temporary or permanent), and to provide additional humanitarian aid, in order to allow the release of the kidnapped people (he did not specify the number)."

He added, "The full responsibility for the matter (approving a prisoner exchange deal) lies with the head of the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip (Yahya Al-Sinwar) and the movement's leadership." He claimed, "We are not fighting the people of Gaza, and they are not our enemies. Rather, we are fighting Hamas, and they are the enemy."

He pointed out that "there are dozens of humanitarian cases among the group of hostages held in Gaza."

No official statement was issued by Hamas commenting on Herzog’s statements, but the movement’s deputy head in Gaza, Khalil al-Hayya, along with a number of leaders, the most recent of whom was Naim, who spoke to Reuters, said, “There is no talk of exchanging prisoners with the Israeli occupation before stopping the aggression.” On the Gaza Strip, and a complete withdrawal of the Israeli army from the areas it penetrated.”

In recent days, they have been talking in Israel about negotiations taking place with the Egyptian and Qatari mediators in an attempt to reach a new exchange deal with the Hamas movement in an attempt to release a family from among about 129 Israeli detainees in the besieged Gaza Strip, after Israel had exchanged dozens of them, during A humanitarian truce lasted for 7 days and ended on the first of December.