• Says Tel Aviv’s ‘new’ conditions blocking agreement
• Netanyahu alleges Hamas reneging on understanding
• Israeli strikes kill 24 Palestinians across Gaza

DUBAI: The Palestinian group Hamas and Israel traded blame on Wednesday over their failure to conclude a ceasefire agreement despite progress reported by both sides in the past days.

Hamas said that Israel had laid down further conditions, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the group of going back on understandings already reached.

“The occupation has set new conditions related to withdrawal, ceasefire, prisoners, and the return of the displaced, which has delayed reaching the agreement that was available,” Hamas said. It added that it was showing flexibility and that the talks, mediated by Qatar and Egypt, were serious.

Netanyahu countered in a statement, saying Hamas “continues to lie, is reneging on understandings that have already been reached, and is continuing to create difficulties in the negotiations”. Israel will, however, continue relentless efforts to return prisoners, he added.

Israeli negotiators returned to Israel from Qatar on Tuesday evening for consultations about a prisoner deal after a significant week of talks, Netanyahu’s office said on Tuesday.

The US and Arab mediators Qatar and Egypt have stepped up efforts to conclude a phased deal in the past two weeks. One of the challenges has been agreements on Israeli troop deployments.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz, speaking with commanders in southern Gaza, said on Wednesday that Israel will retain security control of the enclave, including by means of buffer zones and controlling posts.

Hamas is demanding an end to the war, while Israel says it wants to end Hamas’ rule of the enclave first, to ensure it will no longer pose a threat to Israelis.

Israeli military pressure

Meanwhile, Israeli forces kept up pressure on the northern Gaza Strip, in one of the most punishing 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 seeking to permanently depopulate northern Gaza to create a buffer zone. Israel denies this and says it has instructed civilians to leave those areas for their own safety while its troops battle Hamas.

Israeli strikes killed at least 24 people across Gaza on Wednesday, health officials said. One strike hit a former school sheltering displaced families in Gaza City’s suburb of Sheikh Radwan, they added.

The Israeli military said it struck a Hamas fighter operating in the area of Al-Furqan in Gaza City.

Several Palestinians were killed and wounded in the Al-Mawasi area, an Israeli-designated humanitarian zone in southern Gaza, where the military said it was targeting another Hamas operative.

The war was triggered by Hamas’ Oct 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza has since killed more than 45,300 Palestinians, according to health officials in the enclave. Most of the population of 2.3 million has been displaced and much of Gaza is in ruins.

Published in Dawn, December 26th, 2024