Hamas accuses Netanyahu of setting new conditions for Gaza cease-fire

By Anadolu staff

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – Palestinian resistance group Hamas accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday of hindering efforts to reach a cease-fire agreement in the Gaza Strip.

"Netanyahu has once again returned to the strategy of procrastination, delay, and evasion by setting new conditions and demands,” Hamas said in a statement.

The group said it was informed by mediators of an Israeli paper presented during a meeting in Rome, Italy, to explore efforts to reach a cease-fire and prisoner swap deal.

Netanyahu's new conditions "entail a retraction of what the mediators conveyed previously,” it said, without providing details about these conditions.

On Sunday, Israel's Mossad chief David Barnea, CIA Director William Burns, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel met together in Rome to discuss efforts for a Gaza cease-fire and prisoner swap.

According to Israeli Channel 12, the new Israeli conditions include a mechanism to screen Palestinians returning to northern Gaza, to maintain troops along the Gaza-Egypt border area, known as Philadelphi Corridor, and to receive a list of names of Israeli captives to be released in advance.

Indirect talks between Israel and Hamas mediated by the US, Qatar, and Egypt have failed to agree on a permanent cease-fire that allows a prisoner swap between Israelis and Palestinians.

So far, efforts by the three countries to mediate an agreement between Israel and Hamas have been hampered by Netanyahu's rejection of Hamas' call to halt hostilities.

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.

Over 39,300 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and nearly 91,000 injured, according to local health authorities.

Over nine months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar