Gaza City, Dec. 10 -- A senior Hamas official said the Gaza ceasefire cannot proceed to the second phase of the US-brokered peace deal, due to what he termed as Israel's persisting "violations" of the deal's dictates, urging mediators to push Israel to uphold its commitments.
"The second phase cannot begin as long as the occupation continues its violations of the agreement and evades its commitments," Hamas political bureau member Hossam Badran said on Tuesday, referring to the fragile truce which came into effect on October 10.
"Hamas has asked the mediators to pressure the occupation to complete the implementation of the first phase," the terror group official said.
The second phase, which is supposed to see the deployment of an intern...