Israel’s security cabinet has postponed a meeting to approve a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office accused Hamas of seeking last-minute concessions.
The meeting, originally scheduled for 11am local time was delayed as Netanyahu’s office said Hamas had backed away from parts of the agreement reached with mediators.
“The Israeli cabinet will not convene until the mediators notify Israel that Hamas has accepted all elements of the agreement,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
The Jerusalem Post earlier reported the delay was due to Israel’s hostage deal delegation not having completed its work in Qatar and returned home.
Meanwhile, Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that 25 people have been killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza since dawn.
The victims included 12 people living in a residential block in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of Gaza City, the agency said.
The conflict, which began after Hamas’s October 7 attack that killed about 1,200 people in Israel and saw 251 taken hostage, has claimed more than 46,700 Palestinian lives, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry. Israel has also killed around 3,000 in Lebanon and Syria, while around 3 million people have been displaced from their homes as a result of the war.
According to Israel, 94 hostages remain in captivity, with 34 presumed dead. Four additional Israelis were abducted before the war, two of whom are deceased.
Experts, governments, United Nations agencies, and non-governmental organisations have accused Israel of carrying out genocide against the Palestinian people.
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