By Jana Choukeir, Nidal al-Mughrabi and Maytaal Angel
DUBAI/CAIRO/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel traded blame on Wednesday for failing to reach a ceasefire deal despite progress reported by both sides in recent days.
Hamas said Israel had set further conditions, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the group of reversing agreements already made.
“The occupation has set new conditions regarding withdrawal, ceasefire, prisoners and the return of the displaced, which has delayed the achievement of the available agreement,” Hamas said.
It added that it was showing flexibility and that the talks brokered by Qatar and Egypt were serious.
Netanyahu countered in a statement: “The terrorist organization Hamas continues to lie, violate agreements already reached and continue to cause difficulties in the negotiations.”
However, Israel will continue its tireless efforts to repatriate hostages, he added.
Israeli negotiators returned to Israel from Qatar on Tuesday evening after a momentous week of negotiations to discuss a hostage-taking deal, Netanyahu’s office said Tuesday.
U.S. and Arab mediators Qatar and Egypt have stepped up efforts over the past two weeks to reach a gradual deal. One of the challenges was agreements on the stationing of Israeli troops.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, speaking to commanders in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday, said Israel would maintain security control over the enclave, including through buffer zones and checkpoints.
Hamas is calling for an end to the war, while Israel says it wants to first end Hamas’s rule over the enclave to ensure it no longer poses a threat to Israelis.
ISRAEL STOP THE MILITARY PRESSURE
Meanwhile, Israeli forces kept pressure on the northern Gaza Strip in one of the toughest campaigns of the 14-month war, including around three hospitals on the northern edge of the enclave in Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and Jabalia.
Palestinians accuse Israel of permanently depopulating the north of the Gaza Strip to create a buffer zone. Israel denies this and says it has ordered civilians to leave those areas for their own safety while its troops battle Hamas militants.
Israeli strikes killed at least 24 people across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, health authorities said. A strike hit a former school housing displaced families in the Gaza City suburb of Sheikh Radwan, they added.
The Israeli military said it attacked a Hamas militant operating in the Al-Furqan area of Gaza City.
Several Palestinians were killed and injured in the Al-Mawasi area, an Israel-designated humanitarian zone in southern Gaza, where the military said it was targeting another Hamas operative.
The war was sparked by Hamas’ attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which, according to Israel, 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage to Gaza.
Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza has since killed more than 45,300 Palestinians, according to health authorities in the Hamas-controlled enclave. Most of the 2.3 million residents have been displaced and much of the Gaza Strip lies in ruins.
(This story has been corrected to change day to Wednesday in paragraph 9.)
