RAMALLAH, Palestine / ISTANBUL

Palestine on Saturday accused Israel of continuing to kill Palestinians in Gaza to improve its negotiating terms for a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement in the enclave.

“Israel continues the most heinous murders of civilians in front of the whole world, on claims of exerting military pressure to improve its negotiating conditions regarding the ceasefire agreement in Gaza,” the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry denounced international silence to Israeli massacres against civilians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

“An immediate end to (Israel’s) war of extermination is the best guarantee to continue the negotiations,” the ministry stressed

The Israeli army launched a surprise aerial campaign on the Gaza Strip on March 18, killing over 920 people, injuring more than 2,000 others, and shattering a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement that took hold in January.

More than 50,200 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and over 114,000 injured in a brutal Israeli military onslaught on Gaza since October 2023.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.