Netanyahu denies adding new conditions to US-backed truce proposal

By Zein Khalil

JERUSALEM (AA) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office denied Monday that he made changes to a US-backed truce proposal after Hamas accused him of setting new conditions.

In a statement, Netanyahu’s office said Hamas is to be blamed for preventing an agreement and accused it of being the one insisting on several changes to the original proposal.

The statement reiterated Netanyahu's conditions of maximizing the number of living hostages released and the creation of a special security mechanism to prevent Hamas fighters from returning to the northern Gaza Strip.

According to Israeli media, Netanyahu's latest conditions weren't included in the proposal announced by US President Joe Biden in May, which Biden said Israel had agreed to.

Earlier in the day, Hamas accused Netanyahu 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,” it said in a statement.

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 in Rome to discuss efforts for a Gaza cease-fire and prisoner swap.

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.

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas.

More than 39,360 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 90,900 injured, according to local health authorities.

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

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar