(Dan Tri) – The Hamas commander called on Israel to stop attacks if it wants to negotiate peace and release the hostages.

Children are pulled out of the rubble in Gaza (Photo: EPA).

In his first interview with Western media since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, Mr. Khaled Meshaal, a powerful figure of the Hamas force, told Sky News that the hostages were being held.

`Stop the belligerent actions. The mediators like Qatar, Egypt as well as some Arab countries and others will find a way to release the hostages and we will bring them home.`

The senior leader of Hamas said the release of hostages could not be done while Israeli air strikes continued.

“We want to stop the random bombardment, the destruction so that members of al-Qassam (Hamas) (brigade) can take the hostages out and hand them over to the Red Cross or whoever

According to Mr. Meshaal, 22 hostages have been killed in Israeli airstrikes since their capture.

On October 23, Hamas announced the release of two more Israeli hostages among the more than 200 hostages held by this group since October 7.

Mr. Meshaal stated that Hamas never planned to kill civilians.

`If there were any civilian deaths, it was certainly unintentional,` the Hamas leader said, denying claims from Israel that Hamas had adopted brutal new tactics.

`There is no change in Hamas’s strategy and what happened on October 7 is completely within Hamas’s strategy,` Mr. Meshaal emphasized.

Mr. Meshaal affirmed that the attack on October 7 was carried out entirely by Hamas.

`What happened on October 7 was entirely the decision of Hamas. Hezbollah, Iran, Türkiye were asked to stand shoulder to shoulder (with Hamas), but each side has its own decision,` pointed out. said the Hamas commander.

Ruined scene in Gaza after raids (Photo: AP).

Mr. Meshaal also proposed a solution to the current conflict.

`The solution can be divided into two stages. First regarding the current conflict, the war in Gaza, the bombardment and aggression in Gaza should stop and Israel should stop forcing the people of Gaza to evacuate

According to the leader of Hamas, there is still a chance for peace negotiations with Israel.

`Israel should withdraw from all the territories they are occupying and we will have the opportunity to negotiate peace,` Mr. Meshaal declared.

Mark Regev, senior advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, announced on October 23 that Israel would not allow fuel to be brought into the Gaza Strip even if all hostages were released.

`At the moment, we are not interested in supplying more fuel to the military machine of Hamas and we are not licensing fuel, but we are licensing drugs, we are licensing water. We are licensing

`The decision of the Israeli government is not to license the fuel because it will be stolen by Hamas and used by them to power rockets fired at Israel and kill our people,` the Israeli official warned.

Israeli Energy Minister Israel Katz told German newspaper Bild that Israel would not delay a ground attack on Hamas to buy more time for hostage negotiations.

`Efforts to bring home more than 200 hostages held in the Gaza Strip cannot hinder our actions, including a ground attack, if we decide to act. Hamas wants us to negotiate