Palestinians gather to receive aid, including food, at a distribution center in Gaza City, on June 26, 2025. (Credit: Mahmoud Issa/Reuters.)
BEIRUT — The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "proposes impossible conditions aimed at thwarting the possibility of reaching a cease-fire agreement and a deal on the hostages," said a senior Hamas official, Mahmoud Mardawi.
The Palestinian official added that Netanyahu refuses to commit to elements of the agreement he had already approved in the past, while the enclave is ravaged by a destructive war of more than 20 months.
On his Telegram channel, Mardawi wrote that the Prime Minister insists on releasing only ten hostages, instead of releasing them all at once. "Netanyahu lies when he claims he is not involved in choosing the names of the hostages [to be released as part of the agreement]," he wrote. "He does not want a deal."
Israel partially eased a total blockade imposed on the Gaza enclave at the end of May, which resulted in very severe shortages of food, medicine, and other essential goods. A humanitarian aid distribution mechanism led by a "Gaza Humanitarian Foundation" (GHF), supported by Israel and the United States, was established, but its operations give rise to chaotic and deadly scenes.
According to the Hamas Health Ministry, nearly 550 people have been killed and more than 4,000 others injured in massive queues forming to reach various humanitarian aid distribution centers since the GHF began operations there at the end of May.
After the cease-fire with Iran that came into effect on Tuesday, Lieutenant-General Eyal Zamir, Chief of Staff of the Israeli army, announced that the military was "refocusing on Gaza, to bring the hostages home and dismantle the Hamas regime." On June 27, U.S. President Donald Trump stated that a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip was "close" and could happen as early as "next week."
During the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, 1,219 Israelis, mainly civilians, were killed according to a count based on official data, and 49 people abducted that day are still hostages in Gaza, of whom 27 have been declared dead by the Israeli army. More than 56,412 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in Israeli military retaliation campaigns against the Palestinian enclave, according to data from the Hamas Health Ministry, deemed reliable by the U.N.
