"We've refused their offer, and relayed the message to [US Secretary of State John] Kerry through the Qatari foreign minister," Mishaal explained in a Sunday interview with a US based TV network from the Qatari capital of Doha.

"A truce is a truce, but the presence of the Israeli forces inside Gaza and destroying the tunnels are considered an aggression," said the Hamas leader in the televised interview with CNN.

"The Palestinian resistance has the right to self-defense and the right to deal with the invading Israeli forces who are inside our Gaza territories," he further emphasized.

Responding to recent allegations by the Zionist regime and their American backers that the resistance movement used deceptive tactics in negotiating a Friday ceasefire that was violently violated by Israeli forces, Mishaal said, "We did not deceive Kerry or the Israelis. We told everyone up front that this is our position, so the Israelis and the Americans must bear the responsibility for the developments."

The development comes as the resistance movement announced in a Saturday statement that the Israeli war on Gaza provided sufficient proof and appropriate ground for bringing the Zionist leaders to trial as war criminals.

Meanwhile, latest figures indicate that at least 1,830 people have so far been killed and nearly 9,400 wounded during the brutal Israeli onslaught on the impoverished coastal enclave.

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