The Hamas leadership rejected the latest ceasefire and hostage release negotiations that were arbitrated in Doha on Thursday and Friday.
The terrorist organization, under the new direction of its former Gaza head and architect of the October 7 massacre Yahya Sinwar, appeared to place the blame for the failed peace talks on Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing him in a statement of "still putting obstacles in the way of reaching an agreement."
Netanyahu has reportedly been standing firm on his insistence that the IDF remain stationed along the Philadelphi Corridor, which is a nine-mile strip of land that transverses Gaza’s southern boundary with Egypt.
Jerusalem has long accused Hamas and other militant groups of using the district to supply their operatives with munitions and contraband.
In May, the Israeli military determined that there were at least 20 secret tunnels connecting to Egypt in the area.
In addition to disagreements concerning the status of the Egyptian border, Hamas complained about Netanyahu’s expectation that the Jewish state retain control of the Netzarim Corridor, a secured sector between Gaza City and the central parts of the coastal enclave.
If Israeli forces are absent from this strategic location, Hamas could redeploy its fighters to northern Gaza, and the IDF’s reaction time for moving assets into the conflict zone would be greatly reduced.
Prior to the dismissal of the new proposal, Netanyahu, who is hosting U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken this week, told his cabinet that "There are things we can be flexible on and there are things that we cannot be flexible on, which we will insist on. We know how to distinguish between the two very well."
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