TEL AVIV-Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his cabinet will not meet as scheduled to approve the Gaza ceasefire deal, blaming Hamas for causing a “last-minute crisis”.
The Israeli cabinet was set to meet on Thursday morning to ratify the deal, with the ceasefire scheduled to take effect from Sunday.
“Hamas reneges on parts of the agreement reached with the mediators and Israel in an effort to extort last minute concessions,” a statement from Netanyahu said. “The Israeli cabinet will not convene until the mediators notify Israel that Hamas has accepted all elements of the agreement.”
Following the Israeli announcement, 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 the Israel’s broadcaster Kan, one of the reasons behind the postponement of the meeting could be that far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich had not yet informed Netanyahu whether his party will leave the government in protest against the planned agreement.
Earlier, several Israeli families, together with supporters, staged a sit-in in front of Netanyahu’s office, calling for the cabinet to not sign the prisoner exchange deal with Hamas.
“Do not sign a deal that means surrender, sacrificing the remaining kidnapped and giving up Israel’s security,” Yehoshua Shani, the father of Captain Uri Shani who was killed during the fighting, said.
“Come here before the cabinet meeting, and join us to ask the prime minister to stop and not sign a surrender deal with Hamas.”
Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut, reporting from Amman, said there weren’t “any sort of leaks about Hamas going back” on what they agreed upon in the ceasefire deal.
“What we are seeing rather is the internal conflict within Netanyahu’s government, specifically among the Religious Zionist Party,” she said.
“This is Smotrich’s party. He has been threatening to bolt the coalition if this deal came to a vote, saying this was a bad deal for Israel and that his party would need guarantees that Israel will go back to all-out fighting… after the initial phase [of the agreement].”
Netanyahu has faced great domestic pressure to bring home the scores of captives in Gaza, but his far-right coalition partners have threatened to bring down his government if he makes too many concessions.
Attacks on Gaza continue
Meanwhile, Israeli forces have intensified their bombardment of the Gaza Strip, with at least 81 people killed in the past 24 hours, the Gaza Health Ministry said.
Another 200 were wounded, the ministry added.
In one attack, two people were killed and six injured after Israeli forces targeted a school sheltering displaced people in the al-Zeitoun neighbourhood, south of Gaza City, Civil Defence said.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 46,788 Palestinians and wounded 110,453 since October 7, 2023. I aje
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