Hamas leader Khalid Mishal has demanded Israel lift its blockade of Gaza and warned that Palestinians cannot coexist with their neighbours while their land is occupied, in an interview with US broadcaster PBS in Doha.

A full version of the interview will be broadcast late today, but excerpts were revealed yesterday on CBS News’ Face the Nation.

Asked by veteran interviewer Charlie Rose whether he could foresee living beside Israelis in peace, Mishal said only a future Palestinian state could decide whether to recognise the Jewish state.

“We are not fanatics, we are not fundamentalists. We are not actually fighting the Jews because they are Jews per se. We do not fight any other races. We fight the occupiers,” he said.

“I’m ready to coexist with the Jews, with the Christians and the Arabs and non-Arabs,” he said. “However, I do not coexist with the occupiers.”

Pressed on whether Palestinians could recognise the state of Israel as a Jewish state, Mishal reiterated Hamas’ position - the group does not recognise Israel.

“When we have a Palestinian state then the Palestinian state will decide on its policies. You cannot actually ask me about the future. I answered you,” he said.

“But Palestinian people can have their say when they have their own state without occupation.”

Hamas said yesterday its fighters would halt their fire from 1100 GMT in response to a request from the United Nations but there was no response from Israel.

But an Israeli army spokeswoman claimed that Palestinian rocket fire had continued, with 22 striking various sites.

The Hamas announcement came shortly after Israel said it would no longer abide by a unilateral truce while coming under “incessant” fire from Gaza.

Shortly afterwards, Israel resumed its air strikes and tank fire, killing 11 people across the territory, including an elderly Christian woman.

Another three people also succumbed to their wounds, raising the Palestinian toll on day 20 of Israel’s devastating military campaign to 1,031, Gaza’s emergency services said.

The renewed violence came after a rare 12-hour cessation in hostilities on Saturday, which was respected by both sides, with world powers urging Israel and Hamas to extend the temporary truce by another day.

In Washington, a US official said Secretary of State John Kerry was pressing efforts for further pauses in the fighting, after he returned early yesterday from a week-long mission to the Middle East, which failed to produce a long-term ceasefire.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet met yesterday evening to discuss the next steps.

Saturday’s relative calm was a distant memory by yesterday.

“I was praying at church when my father called me and told me to go home quickly,” said Antonio Ayyad, a Christian whose elderly mother was killed when a missile hit their home in western Gaza City.

“They are targeting Christians in Gaza,” he said.

“I’m not Hamas, I’m not Fatah - I don’t belong to any Palestinian faction. Where is the world? Where is the Pope?” he asked.

In Rome, Pope Francis pleaded for an end to the bloodshed which has killed more than 1,000 victims, around a quarter of them children.

“Stop, please stop! I beg you with all my heart,” he said in the weekly Angelus prayer.

 

Israeli army confirms firing into UN refuge

 The Israeli army yesterday confirmed firing a mortar round into a Gaza UN shelter where 15 people died on Thursday, but denied killing anyone at the site. Briefing journalists on the findings of an internal military enquiry into the incident at a UN school in Beit Hanun, spokesman Lieut Col Peter Lerner said fighters “in the vicinity” of the school had fired mortar rounds and anti-tank rockets at Israeli forces. The army responded with mortar fire, sending a stray round into the compound.