Hamas has rejected some of Israel's key demands for a ceasefire-prisoner swap deal, Reuters reported.
According to the report, a Western source, Palestinian Arab source, and two Egyptian sources said that Israel's attempt to insert changes in the proposed deal is "complicating" efforts to reach an agreement which would end the war.
Israel has repeatedly said that it will not allow Hamas to regain control of Gaza, because doing so would allow Hamas to fulfill its promises to carry out additional such massacres.
According to the report, Israel is demanding to inspect the Gazans who would return to northern Gaza at the start of the ceasefire, while backtracking on its agreement to allow those who escaped to southern Gaza to return home freely. A Western source told Reuters that Israel is interested in "a vetting mechanism for civilian populations returning to the north of Gaza, where they fear these populations could support" Hamas upon their return home.
The Palestinian Arab source and two Egyptian sources said that Hamas has rejected "the new Israeli demand." Both Egyptian sources said that there is an additional disagreement regarding Israel's demand to maintain control of the Philadelphi Corridor - something which Cairo refuses to allow.
Sami Abu Zukhri, a Hamas official abroad, accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of "stalling," adding that, "There is no change in his stance so far," White House spokesman John Kirby said Thursday night that the sides are "closer now than we've been before" to a deal, but there are still differences between them.