Israel says ‘no point’ in negotiating Gaza truce

By: 10 years ago

Palestinians, standing on an adjacent building, inspect the rubble of the Imam Al Shafaey mosque, destroyed in an overnight Israeli strike, in Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, Saturday, Aug. 2, 2014. AP

JERUSALEM — An Israeli Cabinet minister says there is “no point” in trying to reach a Gaza truce with Hamas and that Israel won’t send a delegation to planned cease-fire talks in Cairo.

The minister, Yuval Steinitz, spoke Saturday on Israel’s Channel 10 television station.

His comments suggests that Israel plans to end the current round of fighting with Hamas on its own terms, rather than getting entangled in indirect negotiations with Gaza’s Hamas rulers.

Steinitz alleged that Hamas has repeatedly violated previous cease-fire deals and that this “leads us to the conclusion that with this organization there is no point speaking” about a deal.

He says Israel won’t be sending a delegation to Cairo for the time being.