This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
It appears NOW Hamas wants to make a deal with Israel, with Iran claiming that if Israel halts its response to the Hamas terror attack that killed more than 1,200 Israelis, Hamas will release the hostages it took and has threatened to publicly execute.
The Times of Israel reports the claim comes from Iran's Foreign Ministry.
That government organization in Iran's rogue regime claims, "Hamas potentially was ready to release the nearly 200 hostages it is holding if Israel stops its campaign of airstrikes on the Gaza Strip."
But the report noted the terrorists in Hamas have not confirmed that that is their position.
It was only Iranian Foreign Ministry bureaucrat Nasser Kanaani who said that Hamas officials "stated that they are ready to take necessary measures to release the citizens and civilians held by resistance groups, but their point was that such measures require preparations that are impossible under daily bombardment by the Zionists against various parts of Gaza."
A blog report at Khaosoenglish.com confirmed the claim by Iranian officials.
The report noted there apparently are 199 hostages being held by the terrorists from Hamas in Gaza.
"We heard from the resistance that they have no problem to continue resisting," Kanaani said, referring to the Hamas terror organization. "They said the resistance holds the military capability to continue resisting in the field for a long time."
Besides Iran, China also has begun inserting itself into the fight in the Middle East.
CNBC said Chinese officials are verbally attacking Israel, urging officials there to stop the "collective punishment" on Gaza.
"It's been more than a week after the Hamas militant group staged its worst assault on Israel since the 1973 Yom Kippur War, killing at least 1,400 mostly civilians in the Jewish state," the report said. "In retaliation, Israel last week pounded Gaza in airstrikes that have killed at least 2,670, cut off food, water, fuel, and electricity to the Palestinian enclave, and ordered civilians to evacuate northern Gaza ahead of an expected ground assault aimed at eradicating Hamas."
