A Hamas official told the Qatari newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that "after consultations, we decided to suspend the negotiations for a cease-fire. We will postpone the return of the negotiating delegation to Cairo until the results of the efforts of the mediators." According to the source, "We received messages from Egypt demanding that there be no military escalation, and to give it a chance to curb the crisis." (Einav Halabi)