New Netanyahu demands may complicate ceasefire negotiations: report

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's renewed demand for any Gaza ceasefire deal to prevent the return of weapons and fighters to the north of the Gaza Strip violates prior agreements with mediators, which may complicate or even thwart negotiations, unnamed senior security sources told Israel's Channel 12.

"This is a demand that will prevent a deal," one source says. "In the best case, it is an obstacle that will make the continuation [of talks] more difficult, and in the worst case, it is aimed as a spoke in the negotiations’ wheel and at eliminating the ability to reach a deal.

"We are in a crucial two days for the deal to succeed. It’s either now or in a very long time, perhaps never. Prime Minister Netanyahu added demands that deviate from the agreements with the mediators."

Ezzat al-Rashq, a member of Hamas's political bureau, said in a message on Telegram that "Netanyahu's frantic attempts to add new demands, which were not included in all the previous proposals circulated with the mediators, confirm that he is still dragging his feet, procrastinating, and searching for something that will disrupt the agreement."