GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Hamas’ leadership quickly denied to Al-Monitor on Feb. 24 that Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh had sent a letter to the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the confrontations on the Gaza-Israel front. Hamas issued the denial to avoid being accused of hypocrisy, given Hamas regularly criticizes its rival Fatah for communicating with Israel.

Despite Hamas’ official denial about the existence of any direct communication channels with Israel, a source in Hamas asserted that the organization has sent a verbal message to the Israeli side — from the deputy foreign minister in the Hamas government Ghazi Hamad to Israeli peace activist Gershon Baskin — without explicitly asking Baskin to forward the message to Netanyahu’s office.

“Yes, a message was sent to the Israeli side, and it was kind of a [verbal] chat about what is happening lately on the border regarding rocket fire from Gaza, the Israeli responses and Hamas’ position on the matter. It noted that Hamas may lose all control of the factions if Israel continues to target the [Gaza] Strip,” said the source, speaking to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity.

“Hamad didn’t directly ask Baskin to pass on the message to Netanyahu’s office, but it was a general discussion, which Baskin may choose to pass on to decision-makers in Israel. It seems that Baskin wrote down the oral message he received and sent it to Netanyahu’s office,” the source added.