Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed Hamas has backtracked on an earlier understanding of the ceasefire agreement, as air strikes continued in Gaza hours after the US and Qatar announced the deal to end the 15-month war in the region.
In a statement, Netanyahu said Hamas was objecting to a part of the agreement that gave Israel the ability to veto the release of certain Palestinian prisoners.
He said the group was trying to dictate which Palestinian prisoners would be released.
The Israeli prime minister added that he would issue a formal response “after the final details of the agreement, which are currently being worked on, are completed”.
Hamas has not yet responded to his claims.
Under the three-phased ceasefire deal, due to begin Sunday, Hamas would release dozens of hostages in exchange for Israel releasing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
The agreement would also allow hundreds of thousands of people displaced in Gaza to return to what remains of their homes.
It comes as residents and authorities in Gaza reported intensified Israeli air strikes since the ceasefire and hostage release deal was announced.
Heavy Israeli bombardment, especially in Gaza City, killed 32 people late on Wednesday, medics said.
The strikes continued early on Thursday and destroyed houses in Rafah in southern Gaza, Nuseirat in central Gaza, and in northern Gaza, residents said.
Netanyahu’s statement followed a final farewell address by US President Joe Biden, who earlier touted the role of American diplomacy in negotiating the ceasefire.
The US is expecting that two Americans, Sagui Dekel-Chen and Keith Siegel, will be among the 33 hostages expected to be released in the first phase of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement.
There’s a least one other known living American captive in Gaza, an Israeli soldier named Edan Alexander, who will be released at a later date in the second phase of the agreement, a Biden administration official said.
Separately, Egyptian, Qatari and American negotiators are to head to Cairo on Thursday for further talks on implementing all aspects of the ceasefire deal, a senior US official told the Associated Press.
The official said the negotiators are focused on making sure expectations are clear to both Israel and Hamas, and that implementation of the agreement is carried out as smoothly as possible.
Under the deal, the two sides will begin talks over a second and third phase during the exchanges, which would see more hostages and prisoners released, leading to an end of the war.
Biden said the deal was insulated against breakdown as “the ceasefire would continue as long as negotiations continue”.
Israel will begin to withdraw its forces from Gaza in the first phase, and hundreds of trucks of humanitarian aid per day will be allowed into the devastated enclave.
The ceasefire in Gaza represents a “great victory” for the Palestinian resistance, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in a statement shared by semi-official Tasnim news agency on Thursday.
More than 46,000 Palestinians have been killed during the war, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, whose data is deemed reliable by the UN. Bombing continued on Wednesday with at least 62 reported dead.
Israel launched its offensive after the deadly Hamas attacks of 7 October, 2023. The militant group and allies killed about 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals, and took 251 hostages.
More than 90 per cent of the population of Gaza was displaced during the war, with more than 60 per cent of buildings in the enclave damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.
Thousands more Palestinian casualties are believed to be buried under rubble.
