A senior Hamas official has insisted the group remains committed to the ceasefire agreement despite Israel’s renewed strikes on Gaza.

Suhail al-Hindi, a member of Hamas’s political bureau in Gaza, told Al Jazeera that the group was facing “significant difficulties” in recovering the bodies of Israeli captives and had requested permission to bring in heavy equipment to assist with the process.

“Israel must realise that we are committed to the agreement and should stop falsely accusing us of violating it,” he said, adding that Israeli forces had refused to allow search teams into restricted zones.

Al-Hindi said Hamas had no interest in concealing or delaying the return of captives’ bodies and urged mediating countries to pressure Israel to facilitate recovery operations.