Hamas says Israel stalling Gaza ceasefire agreement with new terms

“We in the Hamas movement have listened to the mediators regarding what transpired recently in the Rome meeting, concerning the ceasefire talks and prisoner exchange,” the group said in a statement on Monday.

“It is clear from what the mediators conveyed that Netanyahu has returned to his strategy of procrastination, stalling, and evading reaching a deal by setting new conditions and demands,” it added.

The new terms, Hamas stressed, represent “a retreat” from an earlier draft communicated by mediators.

The statement came after Egyptian, Qatari and US mediators met with Israeli negotiators in Rome on Sunday in the latest push for a truce.

Israel and Hamas have been engaged in indirect talks since January to reach a deal that ends the war on Gaza and swaps Israeli captives with Palestinian prisoners.

The two sides have been back and forth over a three-phased proposed outline for the agreement presented by mediators.

The process involves a six-week pause in fighting, in which Hamas will release some Israeli captives it has held since October 7.

In exchange, Israel is expected to release several Palestinian prisoners, withdraw its troops from certain regions of the Gaza Strip and allow Palestinians to travel from the south of the territory to the north.

During the second phase, there would be a direct announcement of a permanent cessation of Israeli military operations before the remaining Israeli captives are exchanged for more Palestinian prisoners.

Hamas has accepted a UN Security Council resolution passed last month which said: “If the negotiations take longer than six weeks for phase one, the ceasefire will continue as long as negotiations continue.”

Israel’s war on Gaza, now nearing its tenth month, has destroyed large swaths of the besieged territory. Israel has killed more than 39,300 people, the great majority of them women and children, in Gaza since October 2023.