Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday accused Hamas of backing out of a cease-fire deal to release hostages and bring a pause to more than a year of fighting in the Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu’s office said Thursday his Cabinet won’t meet to vote on the Gaza cease-fire deal until Hamas backs down from what it called a ‘last minute crisis.’
Netanyahu’s office accused Hamas, without elaborating, of trying to go back on part of the agreement in an attempt ‘to extort last minute concessions.’
The Israeli Cabinet was set to ratify the deal Thursday.
President Biden joined Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken for a Wednesday news conference announcing that the deal would roll out in three phases.
Biden said the first phase will last six weeks and ‘includes a full and complete cease-fire, withdrawal of Israeli forces from all the populated areas of Gaza, and the release of a number of hostages held by Hamas, including women and elderly and the wounded. And I’m proud to say Americans will be part of that hostage release and phase one as well. And the vice president and I cannot wait to welcome them home,’ he said.
In exchange, Israel released hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, Biden said, and Palestinians ‘can also return to their neighborhoods in all areas of Gaza, and a surge of humanitarian assistance into Gaza will begin.’
Izzat al-Rishq, a senior Hamas official, said the militant group ‘is committed to the ceasefire agreement, which was announced by the mediators.’
Netanyahu’s office had earlier accused Hamas of backtracking on an earlier understanding that he said would give Israel a veto over which prisoners convicted of murder would be released in exchange for hostages.
Under the terms of the cease-fire deal, 33 hostages are set to be released over the next six weeks in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Israeli forces will pull back from many areas, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians would be able to return to what’s left of their homes, and there would be a surge of humanitarian assistance.
The remainder of the hostages, including male soldiers, are to be released in a second that will be negotiated during the first. Hamas has said it will not release the remaining captives without a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal, while Israel has vowed to keep fighting until it dismantles the group and to maintain open-ended security control over the territory.
Netanyahu has faced great domestic pressure to bring home the scores of hostages, but his far-right coalition partners have threatened to bring down his government if he makes too many concessions. He has enough opposition support to approve an agreement, but doing so would weaken his coalition and make early elections more likely.
Meanwhile, Palestinians in Gaza reported heavy Israeli bombardment overnight as people were celebrating the ceasefire deal. Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least 48 people were killed in Israeli strikes between midday Wednesday and Thursday morning. Around half of the dead were women and children, Zaher al-Wahedi, head of the ministry’s registration department, told The Associated Press. He said the toll could rise as hospitals update their records.
Mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the U.S. are expected to meet in Cairo on Thursday for talks on implementing the agreement. They have spent the past year holding indirect talks with Israel and Hamas that finally resulted in a deal after repeated setbacks.
President-elect Donald Trump’s Mideast envoy joined the talks in the final weeks, and both the outgoing administration and Trump’s team are taking credit for the breakthrough.
Israel’s offensive has killed over 46,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Health Ministry. it does not say how many of the dead were militants. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence.
The war has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced some 90% of its population of 2.3 million people, according to the United Nations.
Fox News Digital’s Efrat Lachter and The Associated Press contributed to this report.