Israel was still holding off on Thursday afternoon from officially declaring that a ceasefire-hostage release deal announced a day earlier by mediators had been reached with Hamas, insisting that details remained to be finalized and that Hamas was throwing last-minute wrenches into the negotiations.

Mossad chief David Barnea, the head of Israel’s negotiating team who was dispatched to Doha on Saturday night, was still in the Qatari capital as of Thursday afternoon, according to an official familiar with the talks.

Both the US and Qatar — who brokered the agreement — proclaimed on Wednesday evening that a deal had been reached to end the 15-month war in Gaza triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held off on publicly commenting, saying he would only do so when the terms were finalized.

Nevertheless, most Israeli officials indicated the agreement was all but a done deal, with the focus moving to the internal political battle playing out ahead of the expected cabinet and security cabinet votes, which were delayed by at least several hours.

The Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement Thursday morning accusing Hamas of backing out of some agreements and creating a “crisis” in finalizing the deal.

“Hamas is reneging on the understandings and creating a last-minute crisis that is preventing an agreement,” the PMO said in a statement issued in both English and Hebrew. “The Israeli cabinet will not convene until the mediators notify Israel that Hamas has accepted all elements of the agreement.”

Other reports in Israeli media suggested instead that the delay in convening the cabinet was due to attempts to gain the support of far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has threatened to quit the government........

© The Times of Israel