Hamas rejects Gaza truce despite Turkey's fresh bid

Ankara seeks to persuade Hamas to accept a truce in Gaza, with Turkish PM Erdoğan personally assuming responsibility on the issue, but Khaled Meshaal says "We reject today... and will reject in the future"

Turkey has been working behind the scenes to bring a cessation to hostilities to the conflict between Hamas and Israel in Gaza, leaning on the Hamas leader to agree to a truce pending negotiations on a more thorough settlement, before the Palestinian group rejected the latest bid.

In a visit to Ankara last week, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas asked Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to convince Hamas’ Khaled Mashaal to accept an immediate cease-fire deal with Israel, Palestinian Ambassador to Turkey Nabil Maarouf told the Hürriyet Daily News on July 23.

Maarouf added that Erdoğan discussed the matter with Mashaal by phone on the same night.

“Erdoğan, at midnight Sahur time, talked with Mashaal to convince him. On the second day, someone from here went to Doha to meet Mashaal for the same purpose,” he said, noting that Turkish leaders agreed with Abbas’ suggestion that Hamas should first agree to an immediate truce before negotiating the terms of the deal.

“Turkish leaders responded positively that we should make a cease-fire first; we should stop the killings of people now and then discuss the details,” Maarouf said.

A Turkish official told the Daily News that Turkey was "continuing efforts within the framework set by Abbas."

Last week's Egyptian plan for a truce in Gaza was initiated by Abbas, Maarouf also said, adding that he asked Egyptian officials to secure a cease-fire, after which delegations would come from...