Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas traded accusations today centered on the failure to reach a truce deal despite progress reported by both sides in recent days.

Hamas said Israel had set new terms, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the group of going back on agreements it had already reached.

“The occupying authorities set new conditions regarding the withdrawal, ceasefire, prisoners and the return of displaced persons, which delayed the achievement of the agreement that was available,” Hamas said.

Hamas has indicated, however, that it is showing adaptability and that talks for a truce, brokered by Qatar and Egypt, are in a serious direction.

The Israeli prime minister responded in a statement: “The terrorist organization Hamas continues to lie, renege on agreements that have already been reached and continue to create difficulties in negotiations.”

But Israel will continue its unrelenting efforts to return the hostages, he added.

Hamas’s refusal to hand over a list of names of hostages it is still holding is delaying progress in negotiations for a truce in the Gaza Strip, Israeli media reported today.

After a week of intense negotiations, Israel recalled its negotiators yesterday.

According to the reports, Hamas sources said they were prepared to hand over a list of hostages who would be released in a first phase after the ceasefire, but rejected an Israeli request to provide a full list of the 100 hostages believed to be still alive.

Israel continues military pressure

Meanwhile, Israeli forces continue to exert unabated military pressure on the Palestinian enclave. Doctors said Israeli army strikes killed at least 24 people in the Gaza Strip today.

One of the bombings targeted a school where displaced families had taken refuge in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood on the outskirts of Gaza City, they added.

The Israeli military said it hit a Hamas operative operating in the Al-Furqan area of ​​Gaza City.

Palestinians were killed and wounded in an Israeli strike in the Al-Mawashi area, an Israeli-designated humanitarian zone in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, where the military said the shelling targeted another member of Hamas operating there.

The Hamas Health Ministry also announced that Israeli forces continue to besiege the only three hospitals that are barely functioning in the northern end of the enclave, around Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and Jabalia.

After more than 14 months of war with Israel, the total number of Palestinians who have lost their lives in the enclave now stands at least 45,361 dead, it was announced in a press release issued by the Ministry of Health in Gaza, adding that 107,803 people have been injured in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war, which began with an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist organization in Israel on October 7, 2023.