Hamas: No negotiations with Israel possible at this moment

(Patria) - No negotiations with Israel are possible at this moment while hostilities continue, a Doha-based official of the Palestinian Hamas told AFP today.

Earlier today, Reuters news agency reported, citing its sources, that Qatari mediators are negotiating with Hamas officials on the release of abducted Israeli women and children held by Hamas in Gaza in exchange for 36 Palestinian women and children in Israeli prisons.

- The military operation continues and the resistance led by the Al-Qassam Brigades (Hamas's armed wing) continues to defend the rights of our people. Therefore, no negotiations are possible now on prisoner exchanges or anything else with Israel.

Our mission from now on is to do everything to prevent the occupier from committing massacres against our people in Gaza, which are directly targeting civilian buildings - said Hosam Badran, a member of Hamas's political bureau in the capital of Qatar - Doha.

The Israeli army today ordered a complete blockade of the Gaza Strip, an area ruled by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, on the third day since Hamas launched an unannounced and unprecedented offensive on Israel.

The number of casualties is rising on both sides, and according to the latest data, more than 1,300 people have been killed in total.

Israel responded to Hamas's attack with the strongest bombing of the Gaza Strip to date, and may also be considering a ground invasion of the territory from which it withdrew almost two decades ago.