CRI听力:Hamas Rejects Egyptian Cease-fire Proposal

Palestinian group Hamas has rejected an Egyptian proposal for a cease-fire with Israel.

The announcement comes moments after the Israeli Cabinet accepted the plan.

Hamas says they reject any truce that does not meet the demands of the resistance movement.

Sami Abu Zuhri is the Hamas Spokesman.

"We in the Hamas movement did not receive information from any of the other sides regarding the aggression in Gaza - we only heard about these proposals in the media. These suggestions have no value because they were not proposed to the movement and nobody discussed it with the movement before. To end the fighting, before reaching the conditions of the resistance, we refuse it."

Earlier, the group said it welcomed Egypt's efforts but will not accept the ceasefire without conditions.

Khaled al-Batch, a senior leader of the group, says what is needed is to agree to the demands of the Palestinians, including ending the siege of their territories and opening the border crossing.

But the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas welcomes the cease-fire plan, calling on all parties to commit so as to preserve Palestinian blood.

Israel has warmed Hamas that it will intensify its week-long offensive on Gaza militants if Hamas rejects the plan.

So far, at least 192 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli air strikes launched eight days ago.

The UN estimates that 80 percent of these are civilians.

In Israel, at least 10 people have been inured by rockets fired from Gaza.

Chinese Special Envoy on the Middle East Issues Wu Sike is due to visit Palestine and Israel starting from today.

US Secretary of State John Kerry is also due to discuss the situation in Cairo.

For more on this, earlier we spoke with Li Guofu, Director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the China Institute of International Studies.