Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Thursday a "last-minute crisis" with Hamas was holding up Israeli approval of a long-awaited cease-fire deal, an accusation denied by the Palestinian group.
Netanyahu said there were issues with the deal just hours after U.S. President Joe Biden and key mediator Qatar announced it was complete.
It was not yet clear if his statements merely reflected jockeying to keep his fractious coalition together or whether the deal was at risk.
Netanyahu's office said his Cabinet won’t meet to approve the deal until Hamas backs down, accusing it of reneging on parts of the agreement in an attempt to gain further concessions.
It also said that the Israeli cabinet, which has yet to approve the agreement, "will not convene until the mediators notify Israel that Hamas has accepted all elements of the agreement."
However, Izzat al-Rishq, a senior Hamas official, said the resistance group "is committed to the cease-fire agreement, which was announced by the mediators.”
Netanyahu’s office earlier accused Hamas of backtracking on an understanding that he said would give Israel a veto over which prisoners convicted of murder would be released in exchange for hostages.
Hamas political bureau member Sami Abu Zuhri added there was "no basis" to Israel's accusations.
The Israeli prime minister 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 even without those partners, but doing so would weaken his coalition.
One of his far-right allies, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, has already come out against the deal. Another, Bezalel Smotrich, posted on X late Wednesday that he was demanding "absolute certainty” that Israel can resume the war later, calling the current deal "bad and dangerous” for Israel.
The departure of both of their factions would seriously destabilize the government and could lead to early elections.
