Gaza war: Hamas says Israel’s Netanyahu ‘stalling’ ceasefire deal with new terms
- Hamas officials have previously accused Netanyahu of hindering negotiations, but Israelis have made similar allegations
Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on Monday accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of delaying a Gaza ceasefire deal and hostage exchange by setting new conditions that mark a ‘retreat’ from an earlier draft.
The statement came after Egyptian, Qatari and US mediators met with Israeli negotiators in Rome on Sunday in the latest push for a truce in the more than nine-month-old war.
Hamas officials have previously accused Netanyahu of hindering negotiations, but Israelis have made similar allegations. Israeli demonstrators, who have taken to the streets sometimes in the tens of thousands to demand a hostage-release deal, have accused the prime minister of prolonging the war.
“We in the Hamas movement have listened to the mediators regarding what transpired recently in the Rome meeting, concerning the ceasefire negotiations and prisoner exchange,” the group said in a statement.
“It is clear from what the mediators conveyed that Netanyahu has returned to his strategy of procrastination, stalling, and evading reaching an agreement by setting new conditions and demands,” it added.
The new terms, Hamas said, represent “a retreat” from an earlier draft communicated by mediators.