Hamas showing flexibility in talks but ready to continue fight: Haniyeh

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh has said the Palestinian group was showing flexibility in negotiations with Israel over the Gaza war but at the same time was ready to continue fighting.

In a televised speech on Wednesday, Haniyeh also called on Palestinians in the occupied territories of Jerusalem and the West Bank to march to Al Aqsa Mosque to pray on the first day of Ramadan on March 10, raising the stakes in the indirect talks for a truce deal to have come into force by then.

Previously Israel announced that it would restrict Palestinians' entry to Al Aqsa Mosque during the upcoming Muslim holy month of Ramadan according to "security needs".

US President Joe Biden said earlier that he hoped that a ceasefire in Gaza would be agreed by next Monday, March 4, following negotiations in Qatar also aimed at freeing hostages.

Haniyeh also called on Lebanon's Hezbollah, Yemen's Houthis, and the Islamic Resistance in Iraq — as well as Arab states, to step up their support for the Palestinians in Gaza.

"It is the duty of the Arab and Islamic nations to take the initiative to break the starvation conspiracy in Gaza," Haniyeh said, referring to what Palestinians say appears to be a deliberate policy by Israel to deny them food.