Netanyahu: no vote on Gaza ceasefire deal until Hamas accepts all terms
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Israeli prime minister’s demand before expected cabinet meeting threatens to derail peace negotiations. Benjamin Netanyahu has said that his cabinet will not meet to vote on the ceasefire and hostage release deal announced by Qatar to pause the war in Gaza until “Hamas accepts all elements of the agreement”, in a development that threatens to derail months of work to end the brutal 15-month conflict.
The announcement from the Israeli prime minister’s office on Thursday morning came before an expected cabinet meeting in which ministers were expected to ratify the deal reached in the Qatari capital, Doha, on Wednesday night. “Hamas has reneged on parts of the agreement reached with the mediators and Israel in an effort to extort last-minute concessions,” the statement said, adding that the situation had created a “last-minute crisis”.
A few minutes after the Israeli statement, the senior Hamas official Izzat el-Reshiq said via the group’s Telegram channel that Hamas was committed to the ceasefire agreement, without giving further details. In Gaza, fighting has continued despite expectations of a ceasefire, which is supposed to come into effect on Sunday. The civil defence agency said on Thursday that at least 73 people had been killed and 230 injured by Israeli airstrikes that pounded several areas overnight.
Netanyahu’s office did not specify which parts of the deal were still under discussion, but reports published in Israeli media before the agreement was announced on Wednesday suggested that Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza’s border with Egypt was the subject of 11th-hour discussions. Mediators later briefed that the issue had been resolved.
