The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas has denied claims from Israel that it is going back on Wednesday's ceasefire agreement as announced by mediators, Reuters reports.
The agreement on a ceasefire in Gaza has been mired by claims from Israel that Hamas is "revisiting" certain details of the agreement, Belga News Agency reports.
The Israeli government was expected to meet on Thursday morning (local time) to approve the agreement. However, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said Hamas is "backtracking", and going back on certain details from the agreement. He said the government will not meet until Hamas has "accepted all elements".
However, Hamas has said these claims are untrue. "We are committed to the ceasefire and what is agreed in the ceasefire and what is announced by the mediators," one senior official currently in Doha told the BBC.
Several sources involved in the negotiations announced on Wednesday evening (Belgian time) agreement was reached after days of intense diplomatic efforts in Doha (Qatar). In addition to a ceasefire, there will be a prisoner exchange and the release of the Israeli hostages still held by Hamas.
US reaction
Current US President Joe Biden praised the deal on Wednesday. He stated that is the same deal which he laid out on 31 May 2024. It was finally agreed on this week, leading to questions as to why it took so long.
"It is the result not only of the extreme pressure that Hamas has been under and the changed regional equation after a ceasefire in Lebanon and weakening of Iran – but also of dogged and painstaking American diplomacy," Biden said.
Trump's future special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, has been involved alongside representatives of the Biden administration in talks led by Qatar and Egypt with a view to a truce in Gaza.
"We have an agreement on the hostages" in Gaza, US President-elect Donald Trump confirmed on his Truth Social platform. "They will be released soon."
For months, the US, Egypt and Qatar have been trying to convince Israel to agree to a ceasefire in Gaza and Hamas to release Israeli hostages through indirect negotiations. In recent days, the indirect negotiations accelerated with a view to a truce.
After more than 15 months of violence and just a few days before Trump's return to the White House, 46,707 have been killed and more than 110,000 wounded in Gaza. The war began after Hamas' large-scale terrorist attack on Israeli territory on 7 October 2023, killing about 1200 people and taking over 250 hostages.
Three phases
If the ceasefire is agreed on, it will be implemented in three phases. In the first phase, 33 hostages should be freed in exchange for 1,000 Palestinian security prisoners held by Israel, according to three sources close to the negotiations. The hostages would be released in groups, starting with "children, women and elderly".
The second phase will involve the release of the last hostages, "soldiers and men of military age," as well as the return of the bodies of the dead hostages, according to the Times of Israel. The third phase is a reconstruction process lasting from three to five years.
However, an Israeli official warned on Tuesday that Israel would "not leave Gaza until all the hostages have returned, the living and the dead."
A single one-week truce was observed at the end of November 2023, and negotiations since then have met with intransigence on both sides.
The ceasefire will enter into force on Sunday with the release of the first hostages. Palestinian civilians will be allowed to return to northern Gaza. The Israeli troops will gradually withdraw from the Gaza Strip to a security barrier along the border.
At least 82 people were killed by Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, Al Jazeera Arabic reported. Dozens were killed in Israeli strikes after the ceasefire agreement was announced.
This story is being updated.
