Netanyahu’s office accuses Hamas of provoking ‘last-minute crisis’; but the Palestinian group says it is committed to respecting the announced agreement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his cabinet would not meet as planned to approve the Gaza ceasefire deal, accusing Hamas of provoking a “last-minute crisis.”
The Israeli cabinet was due to meet Thursday morning to ratify the agreement, with the ceasefire expected to come into force on Sunday.
“Hamas is going back on parts of the agreement reached with the mediators and Israel in an attempt to extract last-minute concessions,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “The Israeli cabinet will not meet until the mediators inform Israel that Hamas has accepted all elements of the agreement. »
Following the Israeli announcement, a senior Hamas official, Izzat al-Risheq, said in a statement that the Palestinian group was committed to the ceasefire agreement announced by mediators on Wednesday.
According to Israeli TV channel Kan, one of the reasons for postponing the meeting could be the fact that the far-right Finance Minister
Bezalel Smotrich had not yet informed Netanyahu whether his party would leave the government in protest against the planned deal.
Earlier, several Israeli families, along with their supporters, staged a sit-in outside Netanyahu’s office, calling on the cabinet not to sign the prisoner exchange deal with Hamas.
“Do not sign a deal that involves surrender, sacrifice of the remaining kidnapped people and abandonment of Israel’s security,” said Yehoshua Shani, the father of Captain Uri Shani, who was killed during the fighting.
“Come here before the cabinet meeting and join us in asking the prime minister to stop and not sign a capitulation agreement with Hamas. »
Tel Aviv Tribune’s Hamdah Salhut, reporting from Amman, said there was “no sort of leak that Hamas is going back” on what it had agreed to in the ceasefire deal.
“Rather, what we are seeing is internal conflict within Netanyahu’s government, particularly within the Religious Zionist Party,” she said.
“It’s Smotrich’s party. He threatened to leave the coalition if this deal passed, saying it was a bad deal for Israel and that his party would need guarantees that Israel would return to heavy fighting… after the initial phase. ‘agreement). ).”
Netanyahu has faced intense domestic pressure to repatriate Gaza’s many prisoners, but his far-right coalition partners have threatened to topple his government if he makes too many concessions.
Attacks on Gaza continue
At the same time, Israeli forces have intensified their bombardments on the Gaza Strip, killing at least 81 people in the past 24 hours, the Gaza Health Ministry said.
Another 200 people were injured, the ministry added.
In attack, two people were killed and six injured after Israeli forces targeted a school housing displaced people in the al-Zeitoun neighborhood south of Gaza City, Defense said civil.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 46,788 Palestinians and injured 110,453 since October 7, 2023.