Hamas on Sunday said it will not participate in the planned upcoming cease-fire negotiations with Israel without a promised permanent halt to fighting.

The Palestinian terror group, now led by Oct. 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar, claimed the current talks have strayed too far from what had been backed by President Biden and the UN Security Council last month, as it called on the parties to turn back the clock.  

“The movement calls on the mediators to present a plan to implement what was agreed upon by the movement on July 2, 2024, based on Biden’s vision and the UN Security Council resolution,” Hamas said in a statement. 

“The mediators should enforce this on the occupation (Israel) instead of pursuing further rounds of negotiations or new proposals that would provide cover for the occupation’s aggression and grant it more time to continue its genocide against our people.” 

While Hamas has claimed to be all-in on the US-backed deal, it also has repeatedly demanded that a pledged permanent end to the 10-month war be included in any pact, rather than the de-escalation called for in the July proposal. 

The US-backed deal had called for an immediate halt to the fighting in Gaza as for Hamas and Israel set the groundwork for a hostage exchange that would see the remaining 120 captives free.

It also called for discussions to be held on the future of Gaza without Hamas in charge.

Meanwhile, Israel has repeatedly stated that the fighting must continue until the Iran-backed terror group is destroyed. 

The Jewish state is retaliating for the terrorists’ Oct. 7 massacre in Israel that killed more than 1,200 people.

It remains unclear how committed Hamas is to a cease-fire as its new leader, Sinwar, has previously sabotaged previous peace talks and called on the terror group to continue the war until Israel is destroyed.

Hours before Hamas issued its statement, sources familiar with the cease-fire talks told CNN that Sinwar was now asking Egyptian and Qatari mediators to help push for an end to the fighting.  

As for hardliner Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he is facing growing pressure to accept a cease-fire deal and end the 10-month war, with the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, the main group advocating with the families of those kidnapped by Hamas, pushing for an immediate pact.

”A deal is the only path to bring all hostages home. Time is running out,” the group recently said in a recent statement.

“The hostages have no more to spare. A deal must be signed now,” it added.

Despite being adamantly against a cease-fire deal that would end the war but allow Hamas to remain in Gaza, Netanyahu is seen as being as ready as he’ll ever be to make a deal, sources said.

But nothing is set in stone, they said.

“Nobody knows what Bibi wants,” an Israeli source told CNN of the prime minister.

While Netanyahu is facing backlash over the war, he is also facing pressure from his own coalition partners to stick to the offensive.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich slammed the current US-backed cease-fire push as a “surrender,” urging Netanyahu not to falter.

“I call on the prime minister not to fall into this trap,” Smotrich said Friday.