Hamas says Netanyahu's Congress speech a ‘show of lies’

Hamas denounced on Wednesday evening Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to the U.S. Congress, terming it a "show of lies."

"The speech of the criminal Netanyahu is a party of lies and a disdain for the minds of the world," Izzat Al-Rishq, a senior Hamas leader, said in a statement.

Earlier, Netanyahu spoke before a joint session of Congress and vowed to continue with the brutal war in Gaza until "total victory."

Netanyahu arrived in the U.S. on Monday and is scheduled to meet President Joe Biden on Thursday, followed by a meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris.

On Friday, Netanyahu is set to meet with former President Donald Trump in Florida before returning to Israel on Saturday evening.

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.

More than 39,100 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 90,200 injured, according to local health authorities.

Over nine months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.