Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuʼs office said his cabinet would not meet to approve a ceasefire agreement in Gaza as long as Hamas "violates the agreements."
This is reported by The Times of Israel.
The Prime Ministerʼs Office says Hamas militants are creating a "last-minute crisis", so ministers will not approve the agreement until they receive confirmation that the group has accepted all of its elements.
Senior Hamas official Izzat al-Rishek denied accusations that the group had reneged on some details of the agreement and said it was committed to adhering to it.
In Israel, demonstrators are gathering outside the Knesset (parliament) to oppose the deal. They are calling for the war against Hamas to continue and for Palestinian prisoners not to be released. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich is also against the deal.
Meanwhile, the Qatari television channel Al Jazeera writes that immediately after the news of the agreement between Israel and Hamas, the Israeli military killed at least 82 people in Gaza.
If implemented, the deal would end the fighting in the Gaza Strip and allow Israel to return its citizens held captive by Hamas. Israel would also release Palestinian prisoners. It could also ease tensions in the Middle East, where conflicts continue in the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq.
War between Israel and Hamas
The new escalation of the war has been ongoing since October 7, 2023, when Hamas militants launched a massive rocket attack on southern and central Israel, invaded the countryʼs territory and killed 1 195 civilians, and took more than 250 hostages and took them to Gaza. Some of them were released, some have already died. In response, Israel launched a military operation in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas claims that more than 46 000 Gazans have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced during the Israeli operation. These figures cannot be confirmed, especially regarding the number of dead. Hamas does not separate civilians from militants in its statistics.
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