Head of Hamas political bureau Khaled Meshaal said Wednesday that Palestinian resistance groups in Gaza refuse to disarm

Head of Hamas political bureau Khaled Meshaal said Wednesday that Palestinian resistance groups in Gaza refuse to disarm.

“No one can disarm the resistance,” Meshaal said in a televised speech from Doha, adding there can be no ceasefire to ease the conflict in Gaza without an end to the Israeli blockade, according to Maan news agency.

Meshaal said Hamas would continue to reject a lasting ceasefire until its conditions were met.

“We will not accept any initiative that does not lift the blockade on our people and that does not respect their sacrifices,” Meshaal said.

“How many Israeli soldiers is Israel willing to see dead before the siege is lifted?” he wondered.

Meshaal bemoaned the severe number of Palestinian casualties and the breakdown of the humanitarian situation in Gaza since the start of the offensive. “Everything in Gaza is collapsing. No water, no electricity, no medicine, no fuel, no food.”

He urged UN chief Ban Ki-Moon to visit Gaza to witness the effects of the onslaught firsthand.