Hamas and Israel blame each other for ceasefire delay By Reuters

By Jana Choukair, Nidal al-Mughrabi and Maytaal Angel

DUBAI/CAIRO/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – The Palestinian Authority’s Hamas and Israel on Wednesday blamed their failure to seal a cease-fire agreement, despite progress by both sides in recent days.

Hamas said Israel had imposed additional conditions, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the group of reneging on understandings already reached.

“The occupation imposed new conditions regarding the withdrawal, cease-fire, return of prisoners and displaced persons, which delayed the achievement of an available agreement,” Hamas said.

It added that it was showing flexibility and that the talks brokered by Qatar and Egypt were serious.

Netanyahu contradicted his statement. “The terrorist organization Hamas continues to lie, abandon the understanding already reached and continue to create difficulties in the negotiations.”

Israel, however, will continue relentless efforts to return the hostages, he added.

Israeli negotiators returned to Israel from Qatar for consultations on Tuesday evening after a week of talks on the hostage deal, Netanyahu’s office said on Tuesday.

The US and Arab mediators Qatar and Egypt have stepped up efforts to conclude a phased deal in the past two weeks. One challenge has been the deployment arrangements for Israeli troops.

Speaking to commanders in southern Gaza, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday that Israel would maintain security control over the enclave, including through buffer zones and checkpoints.

Hamas is demanding an end to the war, while Israel says it wants to end Hamas’ rule in the enclave first so it no longer poses a threat to Israelis.

ISRAEL CONTINUES MILITARY PRESSURE

Meanwhile, Israeli forces continued to press north in the Gaza Strip in one of the most punishing campaigns of the 14-month war, including around three hospitals on the enclave’s northern edge: Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanu and Jabalia.

Palestinians accuse Israel of creating a buffer zone to permanently depopulate northern Gaza, which Israel denies and says it has ordered civilians to leave the areas for their own safety while its troops battle Hamas militants.

Israeli strikes killed at least 24 people in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, health officials said, adding that one strike hit a former school in the Gaza City suburb of Sheikh Radwan, where displaced families were sheltering.

The Israeli army said it struck Hamas militants operating in the Al-Furqan area of ​​Gaza.

Several Palestinians were killed and wounded in the Al-Mawasi area, an Israeli-designated humanitarian zone in southern Gaza, where the military said it had targeted another Hamas operative.

The war began with a Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages in Gaza, according to Israeli figures.

Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza has killed more than 45,300 Palestinians, according to health officials in the Hamas-run enclave. Most of the population of 2.3 million have been displaced and much of Gaza is in ruins.

(This story has been corrected by changing the day in paragraph 9 to Wednesday)