GAZA CITY
Palestinian resistance movement Hamas on Tuesday denied reports that group leader and Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh had asked Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu not to launch military operations against the Gaza Strip following recent border tensions.
"These claims are completely fabricated," Gaza Deputy Foreign Minister Ghazi Hamad told Anadolu Agency.
Earlier Tuesday, Israel's Walla news website reported that Haniyeh had sent a "confidential message" to Netanyahu two weeks ago – following a handful of rocket attacks on Israel – urging him not to order military action against the Palestinian coastal enclave.
According to the website, Haniyeh had told Netanyahu that the Hamas-run Gaza government was not planning any escalations against Israel.
Hamad, however, denied that any correspondence – written or verbal – had taken place between the two premiers.
"Egypt remains the only mediator with the authority to transfer messages to and from Israel," Hamad asserted.
Tensions have recently mounted along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel.
For weeks, Israeli aircraft have targeted Palestinian fighters in the strip in an apparent return of Israel's policy of "targeted killing."
The self-proclaimed Jewish state says its airstrikes on Gaza are in retaliation for rockets fired from the Palestinian enclave.
In November 2012, Israel signed an Egypt-brokered ceasefire with Gaza-based resistance groups. The move followed eight days of unrelenting Israeli airstrikes that left nearly 190 Gazans dead and more than 1,500 injured.
By Ola Attalah
englishnews@aa.com.tr
