Earlier Tuesday, Hamas officials were quoted as saying that the Islamist group would honor an unofficial truce with Israel after signing the unity deal with Fatah…

On Sunday, Mashaal’s deputy Musa Abu Marzouk was quoted as saying that Hamas would not recognize Israel’s right to exist, despite the agreement to form a Palestinian unity government.

“Hamas has a principled position regarding this issue,” Marzouk said. “We won’t recognize the Zionist entity. Our rights are still usurped and it’s illogical for us to recognize the Zionist entity because that would be at the expense of our stolen lands and our people in the refugee camps.”