Senior Hamas official Izzat al-Risheq has disputed United States President Donald Trump’s assessment of ceasefire talks for Gaza, after the US leader said that Palestinian negotiators “didn’t really want to make a deal”, Al Jazeera reports.

In a post on Telegram, he said that the comments from Trump and his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff did not “align with the progress of the negotiation process, which was actually witnessing progress”.

He said that the statements from Trump and Witkoff — who said Hamas was not “acting in good faith” as US negotiators cut short negotiations over a ceasefire in Qatar — overlooked “the real impediment to all agreements, which is the Netanyahu government”.

The official added that Hamas had shown a lot of flexibility in the talks, and was keen to reach a comprehensive agreement to put an end to the suffering in Gaza.

He called on the US to stop “exonerating the occupation and providing it with political and military cover to continue the war of extermination and starvation”.