Mousa Abu Marzouk, the head of Hamas’s foreign relations office, said he would not have supported such an attack on Israel had he known of the devastation it would wreak on Gaza.

A Hamas official says Israel’s delay in the release of some 600 Palestinian prisoners is a “serious violation” of the ceasefire agreement and talks on a second phase of the accord are not possible until they are returned.

Hamas will not hold talks with Israel through mediators on any further steps in the fragile, phased ceasefire agreement unless Palestinian prisoners are released as agreed, group official Basem Naim told Reuters on Sunday.